


Into the Light

by imaginary_golux



Series: Out of the Darkness and Into the Light [2]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Dark Rey, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Smut, F/M, Force-Sensitive Finn, the First Order are Assholes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-24
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-12-06 10:40:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11598942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginary_golux/pseuds/imaginary_golux
Summary: Finn and Rey have escaped the First Order and formed an alliance with the Resistance, but Snoke and his Knights aren't going to pause the war to let Finn and Rey find their footing. Soon they are called to battle, and unless they are willing to risk everything, they may yet fail.But if they take that risk, the rewards may be far greater than they can imagine.Beta by my wonderful Best Beloved, Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw.





	1. Chapter 1

The next morning Finn pokes his head out of the room they’ve been given and is veritably _pounced_ on by Tabala. “No one else has claim on your morning yet, right?” she asks anxiously.

“...Not so far as I know?” Finn says dubiously, glancing behind him at Rey, who finishes getting her robes arranged to her satisfaction and shrugs eloquently.

“Then Intelligence calls dibs,” Tabala says triumphantly. “Come on, we have breakfast waiting, it’s the warmest room in the whole base, we _promise_ no one will give you any trouble for - for anything -”

“You had us at ‘breakfast,’” Finn says wryly, taking Rey’s hand when she reaches for him and stepping out into the corridor.

Rey chuckles. “Well, maybe you had _Finn_ at ‘breakfast,’” she corrects him. “You had me at ‘warm.’ I’m a desert girl at heart - all this _snow_ is appalling.”

“Victory!” Tabala cheers, throwing her arms in the air, and Finn can’t help laughing as they follow her down the corridor, Rey’s amusement shining bright and joyful in their bond.

There’s a slightly startling crowd of people waiting for them in the room Tabala leads them to, including the intimidating General Organa, but Finn feels nothing but wary acceptance and hope from any of them, even though Rey is, of course, still the very image of a Knight of Ren with her glowing golden eyes and flowing black robes, and Finn is still wearing Stormtrooper blacks.

Tabala gets Rey and Finn settled in two of the remaining three chairs and corrals half a dozen platters of food for them to choose their breakfast from before settling herself in the last chair, sitting on its edge as though ready to leap to her feet at the slightest suggestion that anyone needs an errand run. Finn gives her what he hopes is a reassuring smile before loading Rey’s plate and then his own. Rey is more nervous than he is, he knows, because Rey, at least, is not of the Light, not like Skywalker, not like General Organa. If the Resistance decides that either of them is truly a threat, it’s likely to be Rey they fixate on.

Also she destroyed a pair of armed ships with a thought and a gesture, while all Finn’s done - that they know about - is heal people. So there’s that.

“Thank you for coming so promptly,” General Organa says once they’ve both taken a bite of their breakfasts. “We were hoping you would agree to tell us what you know of the First Order’s organization and plans, so that we can begin to counter them more effectively.”

Rey grins fiercely. “That,” she tells General Organa, “is something we would be _glad_ to do. What do you want to know?”

General Organa starts to smile. “Everything,” she says. “But let’s start with whether you know about any plans to assault the New Republic directly in the next few months.”

Rey settles back in her chair and hums thoughtfully, eating another bite of melon while she puts her thoughts in order. Finn puts another slice of melon on her plate, because every time she takes a bite their bond lights up with uncomplicated happiness. “Let me see,” she says slowly. “There was Starkiller, of course, but now that that’s been dealt with…”

*

Tabala darts out now and again, to arrange for lunch to be brought in, and dinner too, but it’s late indeed by the time General Organa yawns mightily, looks rather surprised, and then smiles around the table. “Perhaps we should break for the night,” she suggests, and one by one the Intelligence officers put down their datapads and styluses and shake out their hands and stretch, all smiling fit to hurt their cheeks. “Thank you both,” General Organa adds to Finn and Rey. “Already we know orders of _magnitude_ more than we did this morning. So tell me, before we let you go today - what is it that you want from _us_?”

“Just now?” Rey says, and shrugs. “A place to sleep, food, and time to spar and meditate to keep our skills sharp. Once you know all that we do about our enemies, though, we want to be - we want to be on the front lines.”

“We have a bone to pick, she and I, with the First Order,” Finn puts in softly, and sees General Organa startle at the venom in his voice. “This is our war, too, and we’ll see it won or we will die in trying.”

“And we are very, very hard to kill,” Rey adds, just as quietly, eyes blazing. “I’ll see Snoke dead for what he did to me, aye, and Kylo Ren too. I’ll see the First Order _shattered_ before I count myself avenged.”

“Every officer,” Finn agrees solemnly. “Every Knight. Every one who gives commands and sends the ‘troopers out to die. Every sour note in the great song of the galaxy.”

General Organa sits back in her chair, eyes wide and full of surprise and growing satisfaction. “I think,” she says, nodding to both of them with the air of one making an unbreakable oath, “that we can definitely promise you that.”

“Then that’s enough for us,” Rey tells her. “Thank you.”

“Thank _you_ ,” General Organa says, clearly amused. “Now, off with you - we’ve kept you cooped up all day, and I don’t know about you young things, but _I_ am exhausted. Tomorrow we’ll block out time for you to spar and meditate, yes, and spend a few hours with that reprobate Dameron, too, or he’ll be hanging about giving me pittin eyes all week. _We_ are going to be digesting the information you have already given us for a good long time; we can certainly give _you_ a little time to yourselves.”

Rey and Finn exchange a glance of mild bemusement. Time to themselves. When was the last time they were _given_ that, freely, rather than having to steal it from under the noses of officers and Stormtroopers and Knights? Never, is when.

“We appreciate that,” Finn says at last, because it’s true.

*

They haven’t meditated properly in a week and more, too distracted by _people_ and too worried about doing so in the tight confines of the _Falcon_. The practice room they’ve been given, unfurnished and chilly but _theirs_ , is such a relief that Finn feels every muscle in his body relax as the door seals behind them. He flops backwards onto the mat-covered floor, grinning vaguely at the ceiling.

Rey sprawls out next to him, all her Knightly dignity forgotten. “Thank the _Force_ ,” she sighs. “I thought I might go _mad_ with all the - bustle. People kept _touching_ me.”

“Apparently Resistance fighters aren’t scared of Knights of Ren,” Finn says, amused. Rey rolls over until her head is pillowed on his shoulder and thumps him on the chest.

“Well, they _should_ be,” she says petulantly. “I _am_ dangerous.”

“Deadly,” Finn agrees, quite sincerely. She is, after all. Rey giggles a little and then rolls up into a sitting position, closes her eyes, and lets herself fall into the Force. Finn laces his hands behind his head and follows her down into meditation, into the depths of the endless song.

After some uncounted while - he suspects it’s hours, given how long it’s been since they did this - he lets himself drift out of the Force and into Rey’s mindscape. Rey is making sand-sculptures, odd sinuous things that fountain into being beneath her hands and fall away again as soon as she turns her attention from them. Finn’s not sure what they represent - memories, or dreams, or emotions - or even if they’re nothing but a way she amuses herself.

She draws one sculpture up into three elegant circles, like the coiled knots of her hair when she’s in her mindscape, and lets it fall again, then leans back on her hands, smiling up at the clear blue sky and the ever-present sun, while Finn tucks himself into the curve of the stone outcrop which is his refuge here in her desert sanctuary. “Years ago,” she says thoughtfully, “when I was - when I was on Jakku, and I still thought my mother would return for me, I wore my hair the way she taught me to. The way she said our people did, back and back and back so far that no one quite remembers. The way I wear it here, where no one comes but you.” The words have the lilt of memory to them, and Finn hums encouragingly, not wanting to disturb such a peaceful moment.

“When Kylo Ren took me,” she says after a long pause, “he told me that all my bonds were broken - that I belonged to Snoke, not to my mother anymore. That no one would ever come for me.” She slants a smile across the sand at Finn. “So I have worn my hair down for years and years, and let Kylo Ren think it was in some imitation of his own unkempt pride.” Finn chuckles appreciatively. “But I’m not there anymore,” Rey finishes softly. “I never will be again.” She shakes herself free of the sand, out of the mindscape into the real world again, and Finn follows her, as he will always follow her.

“Mother taught me,” Rey says softly as Finn sits up, her hands beginning to gather her hair up behind her, “that every coil had a meaning. The first is memory.” She loops her hair once around, twists it so it will not fall loose again. “The second is the moment that _is_ , now, and never will be again.” A second loop takes shape under her careful hands. “And the third is hope for the future.” She raises her head, eyes blazing, hair looped the way it is in her mindscape where she is free, and Finn smiles so broadly it makes his cheeks ache at the _joy_ that rings through their bond.

“It suits you,” he tells her, and she laughs.

“Also it’s much more comfortable for sparring,” she points out, and summons her staff to her with an easy gesture, using it to lever herself to her feet. “Well?”

Finn laughs in delight and rolls to his feet, hands empty but for the Force. “Come on, then,” he invites, and lets himself flow into the glory of the fight.

*

They don’t emerge till dinnertime, and even then they’re late to the mess hall because showers are an absolute necessity if they don’t want to stink up the whole base. Poe has saved them seats, like the sweetheart he is. Neither Finn nor Rey is quite sure what to make of Poe. He’s grateful to them, and that’s comprehensible - even in the First Order, gratitude was not unknown. But that he is cautious around them and yet not _afraid_ of them - for both of them are sensitive enough to know _that_ easily enough - is strange indeed. The Stormtroopers and officers of the First Order, who saw Rey do far less terrifying things than she has done in front of Poe, were scared witless of her; and Finn is no less powerful than she is, after all. But Poe welcomes them with completely sincere joy, and though he clearly _notices_ the new way Rey’s hair is done, he doesn’t mention it, for which Finn is grateful.

“So,” Poe says, once Rey and Finn have settled down with their plates among the pilots, “I was telling these nerfherders about what a good pilot you are.” Rey grins at him, fierce and proud. “Would you like to come up with us in the X-Wings tomorrow?”

Rey blinks, then glances at Finn, who shrugs. “Go ahead,” he says mildly. “I’m sure I’ll find _something_ to do with myself. Maybe I’ll ask Skywalker about some of those Light-specific skills he mentioned.”

Rey nods. “That seems sensible,” she says. “Alright. I would like that, Poe, thank you.”

“My pleasure,” Poe says, beaming.

*

The next morning, Finn stands on the tarmac and watches, grinning, as Rey sends the X-Wing she’s been loaned screaming into the air, hard on the tail of Poe’s Black One, imitating every acrobatic trick he demonstrates. Finn can feel Rey’s pleasure thrumming in the back of his mind, a constant glow of joy and exhilaration; it’s one of the best feelings he’s ever gotten from her, and he thinks he’s going to have to find something particularly nice to do for Poe in return.

Skywalker joins Finn on the tarmac as Rey and Poe and the other X-Wings streak out of sight. “She’s very talented,” he observes quietly.

“She is,” Finn agrees, turning to observe the old Jedi thoughtfully.

“And she has your complete loyalty,” Skywalker says slowly. “I would hear more of how that came to pass, if you would be willing to tell me. And in return, I should be pleased to tell you of those powers the Light commands that the Dark does not.”

Finn nods, and follows Skywalker off the tarmac to a small room just inside the base, sitting down across from the older man and leaning back in the surprisingly comfortable chair.

“How did you come to be her apprentice?” Skywalker asks after a moment.

“I was assigned to be her bodyguard,” Finn explains easily. “We were sparring, and I stopped her weapon with the Force. She offered to send me to Lord Snoke to learn to be a Knight of Ren, or to train me herself, and I chose not to leave her side.”

“Ah,” Skywalker says. “Hm. There is a Force power which I have only read of, called the battlemind; it is a deeper form of meditation, in which all the course of a battle becomes clear, and one’s determination becomes as hard as durasteel, so that the fighter deep in battlemind cannot be stopped by injury or weariness, but fights on long past their normal strength. After the battle is over, though, the fighter _must_ have rest and food, and a great deal of both, else they die.”

Finn nods. A Jedi technique for an answer about his past; that seems fair enough, and the battlemind does sound like something he could use.

“Tell me of your training,” Skywalker invites.

Finn considers. “We pretended,” he says at last, “that I was her favorite - her toy, I think is the word - and so we had privacy whenever we wanted it. She taught me to meditate first, and then to conceal myself and my power from the Knights of Ren. And then she showed me everything _she_ could do, and I learned it as I could. There are some things she is better at; and she cannot heal at all, so that I taught myself.”

“Hmmm,” Skywalker says. “That is very impressive, young Finn. It took me many years and a great deal of research to learn that the Force can be used to heal.” He smiles wryly. “And I am quite bad at it.”

Finn shrugs. “It comes easily to me,” he says. “But I can’t do Rey’s trick of knowing what’s going on far away, or what will come in the future.”

Skywalker nods. “The Force grants different gifts to every user,” he agrees. “Let me see now...I have read also of a skill called tutaminis, whereby a warrior may cast a shield which absorbs every attack, growing stronger as it does so. I have never cast it myself - I did not learn of it until long after the war was over, unfortunately - but it is said to require immense concentration.”

Finn closes his eyes for a moment and listens intently to the ever-present song of the Force. Sometimes if he’s patient and concentrates very hard on a question, the answer will rise out of the song - and yes, there it is, whole-formed and utterly comprehensible. Finn opens his eyes and gestures sharply, and a shield forms around him, shimmering in the artificial light. Skywalker raises an eyebrow and sends a gentle Force-push at the shield, which shimmers more brightly as it absorbs the energy without trouble.

“I’ll have to practice this with Rey,” Finn says thoughtfully, banishing the shield again. “If it’ll hold against Force-lightning, this will be _really_ useful.”

“Rey can cast Force-lightning?” Skywalker asks curiously.

“Yeah, of course,” Finn says, shrugging. “She doesn’t use it a _lot_ , but she _can_.”

“...I see,” Skywalker says. “I do beg your pardon; my only experience with Force-lightning was quite...unpleasant.”

“Really?” Finn asks, and holds out his hand. A tiny lightning bolt grows between his fingers and his thumb, swirling back and forth dizzyingly. “It feels a _little_ different when I do it than when she does it, but it has pretty much the same effect.”

Skywalker leans forward, frowning in concentration. “How are you - oh. How _fascinating_. I think I see. And Rey draws on the Dark, as you do on the Light, to do this?”

“Yeah,” Finn says, closing his hand and extinguishing the little lightning bolt. “So I can’t do it the way she does, but it still works.”

“Huh,” Skywalker says, giving Finn a very respectful look. “The two of you have learned in a scant few years skills it took me decades of research to even _imagine_. I am quite impressed.”

Finn shrugs. “Constant danger of discovery and execution does _wonders_ for ingenuity,” he says wryly. “We had to learn as much as we could, as fast as we could, or else.”

“I see,” Skywalker says, leaning back again. “Well. What can you tell me, then, about the skills of the Knights of Ren?”

Finn frowns, thinking hard. “I didn’t spend much time around them,” he says slowly, “except for Rey, obviously. But there were always rumors among the ‘troopers, and some of them were pretty solidly reliable. Hm.” He ticks the Knights off on his fingers as he thinks. “There’s Lord Kylo, of course, who can read minds and stop blaster bolts and probably some other stuff, but mostly he just destroys anything he can find whenever he gets angry. There’s Lady Kauldi, who does this thing where she makes everyone around her just sort of...fall over with terror. It’s really useful except for how it makes the _‘troopers_ fall down, too.” He shrugs. “Not that she cares about _that_ , of course. There’s Lord Kubas, who really likes Force Lightning. There’s Lady Kaie, who likes to throw around this...it’s like a spear, almost, only it’s just made of the Dark Force. And then there’s Lord Kleng and Lord Kishan and Lord Kallan, who I don’t know much about, and then half a dozen others that I don’t even know their names.”

“Thirteen Knights of Ren,” Skywalker says slowly. “That is...not the best news I’ve had all year.”

Finn snorts with surprised amusement. “No?”

“No,” Skywalker says wryly. “I had high hopes after the _last_ war that I’d never have to fight a Darksider again. And I don’t think any of the Knights of Ren are going to switch sides at the last possible minute and save my life, either. Though I suppose, given Rey, I should be more optimistic.”

Finn shakes his head. “None of the others are anything like Rey,” he says quietly. “Every ‘trooper knows that being assigned as a Knight’s bodyguard is a death sentence - not because the Knights go into the most dangerous battles, but because they like to kill, and if there aren’t any enemies on hand, they’ll kill their bodyguards for sport. Rey’s the only one who never did that.”

“Ah,” says Skywalker, looking slightly ill. “Charming.”

Finn shrugs. “There’s a reason Rey and I want to see the First Order burned to ashes, you know.”

“I am beginning to understand that,” Skywalker says. “Hm. Well. Back when I was young and foolish and wandering about the galaxy looking for Jedi artifacts -”

“You mean five years ago?” Finn asks, grinning. Skywalker gives him a wry look.

“Even as you say,” he agrees. “In any case, I ran across more than one ancient _Dark_ site, and after the first one tried to kill me - and almost succeeded - I learned a skill called the Wall of Light. It can be used to cleanse the Dark from a place, or to sever a Darksider’s connection to the Force. Unfortunately, it takes several minutes of intense concentration and a _vast_ amount of power to perform, and drains the caster so severely that the first time I used it, I passed out on the spot and would have died if Chewbacca hadn’t come looking for me and known how to deal with traumatic shock in humans.” He shrugs. “I suspect it’s easier with more than one Force-user casting it, but all I had was me.”

“I see,” Finn says, considering this carefully. “So it’s not really something I could use in battle.”

“No,” Skywalker agrees. “But still. It might come in handy someday.”

“Yes,” Finn agrees, and files the idea away carefully in his mindscape. Yes, that might come in handy someday, if he can just figure out _how_.


	2. Chapter 2

Finn is waiting on the tarmac despite the cold when Rey lands her X-Wing and comes tumbling out with a grin so bright it seems to illuminate the whole cavern. Her joy is so intense that their bond is _glowing_ with it, and she flings herself across the tarmac into Finn’s arms. Finn spins her around gleefully.

“That was - that was the most _wonderful_ thing,” she says breathlessly, still clinging to Finn. “It’s - oh, Finn, it’s _freedom_.”

Poe has landed and come over to stand near them, an indulgent smile on his face and his hands tucked a little awkwardly into the pockets of his orange flight suit. “Yeah,” he agrees. “That’s how I’ve always felt. You’re a natural, Rey. Never seen someone catch on that fast.”

“I’m a _mechu-deru_ ,” Rey says, shrugging.

Poe raises an eyebrow in clear incomprehension. Finn flicks his fingers in amusement but explains without letting it show in his voice, “She’s got an instinctive understanding of mechanical things.”

“Ah, gotcha!” Poe says, confusion turning to an easy smile again. “That’s a handy skill.”

Rey shrugs. “It can be,” she agrees. “What have _you_ been doing, Finn?”

Finn realizes, somewhat astonished, that this is the longest - and the farthest - they have been from each other in more than two years. “Learning some interesting stuff from Skywalker,” he says. “We can practice it later. For now, let’s get you inside before you turn into a Rey-cicle.”

Rey giggles, a joyful sound Finn has only rarely heard outside their mindscapes, and falls into step beside him, Poe on Finn’s other side. “You’d thaw me,” she says.

“Yeah,” Finn agrees, taking her hand in his. “I would.”

Poe is giving them a slightly odd look when Finn glances over at him. Finn raises an eyebrow, daring Poe to say something.

“You’re good together,” is all Poe says. “It’s pretty impressive, really, considering the hell you came out of. There can’t have been a lot of healthy relationship models in the First Order.”

Finn chuckles, signing amusement absentmindedly. “No,” he agrees. “Everyone thought I was Rey’s favorite, and assumed she was going to kill me horribly sooner or later.” He shrugs. Poe looks horrified.

“Was that...normal?” he asks tentatively.

“Yeah,” Finn says easily. “Everyone knew being a Knight’s favorite was a good way to die young. Or being a General’s favorite, actually, come to think of it. At least the lower-ranking officers weren’t allowed to decommission ‘troopers without good reason.”

“Urgh,” Poe says faintly. “Kriff, everything you tell me about those assholes makes me hate them more.”

“Yes, well, their leader _is_ a Darksider,” Rey says. “Fear and anger and pain are sources of _power_ for the Dark side of the Force. Or - not power, exactly, but a Knight of Ren wouldn’t precisely be comfortable around a lot of happy, healthy, well-adjusted people. It’s...to a Darksider, the Light side of the Force feels sort of like a sunburn. And to a Lightsider, the Dark side feels -”

“Like being immersed in poison,” Finn says grimly, remembering. “Constantly being just a little ill.”

“Ew,” Poe says. “But then - are you going to be uncomfortable as long as you’re here, Rey?”

Rey grins at him. “A little,” she admits. “But it’s not as bad as it could be, for two reasons. First, I’ve got a bond with Finn, so I’m used to the Light and I kind of like it. I grew up on Jakku, after all - I’m hard to sunburn. And second, every Knight has a different way to access the Dark side. Some of them do it with hatred, or despair, or fear. Me, I use anger. And while you Resistance fighters might all be on the side of the Light, you’re also all _very_ angry. So that sort of...feels familiar, I guess.”

“Huh,” Poe says thoughtfully. “That makes a certain amount of sense.”

“And even if I was going to be _ill_ every moment I was here,” Rey adds fiercely, “I’d _still_ be here. I want to see the First Order _gone_ , and I will do _anything_ to make sure that happens.”

“Well,” Poe says, “then I guess you’ll fit right in.”

*

Rey and Finn practice one of the new skills Skywalker told Finn about that afternoon. Finn can’t help grinning while he stands in the middle of the practice room, encased in the _tutaminis_ shield, and absorbs everything Rey can fling at him, up to and including some vicious bolts of Force-lightning. At last she drops her hands with a laugh.

“Now that is going to be _useful_ ,” she says. Finn drops the shield - it takes concentration but not much energy to hold, since it was absorbing the energy of all of Rey’s attacks - and crosses the room to slump to the floor beside her.

“Yeah, I think it is,” he agrees. And then, thoughtfully, “Rey, do you want me to heal your scar?”

Rey’s hand goes to her cheek, to the deep scar that is the mark of her ascension to the ranks of the Knights of Ren. “Do you think you could?” she asks thoughtfully.

“I think so,” Finn says, reaching out. But Rey shakes her head.

“Not...yet,” she says slowly. “I still need it. I need to remember why I want Snoke’s bloody head at my feet, every time I look in the mirror. Someday - someday, when we’ve won -”

“Someday,” Finn agrees, and curls his hand gently around the back of her neck instead, leaning his forehead gently against hers as she raises one slender hand to mirror his gesture. “Someday, when we’ve won.”

“We _will_ win,” Rey says fiercely. “We will destroy the First Order, until not one stone stands on another to mark where it fell.”

“We will,” Finn agrees. “Every officer, every Knight, every person who chose to turn to the Dark for power and pleasure.”

“Yes,” Rey says, and pulls him forward into a kiss. It’s hungrier than their other kisses have been, all teeth and tongue and heat. Finn leans into it gladly, lets her pull him forward until he overbalances and ends up braced over her on his elbows, her hands warm on his shoulders as she sprawls out beneath him.

“Rey,” Finn says softly, into the warm silence of their breathing.

“Finn,” Rey says simply, and Finn kisses the sound of his name from her lips.

*

They make it to dinner eventually, damp from hasty showers and with their lips still tender from kissing for _hours_. Finn honestly hadn’t known that just _kissing_ could feel so good, but frankly if there wasn’t a war to win he’d be just as happy to spend the rest of his life doing nothing but kissing Rey.

“Well,” Poe says, grinning at them as they take their seats across the table from him. “You look like you’ve had a good...workout.”

Jess Pava bursts into laughter and smacks Poe on the shoulder. “You have a _filthy_ mind, Dameron,” she admonishes him. Finn blinks at them in confusion, then looks at Rey, who shrugs.

“I think they’re implying you’re my favorite,” she says.

Finn gestures understanding, and then glances across the table to see that Poe has gone white with what looks like horror.

“No,” he says, sounding strangled, “I didn’t - I know you wouldn’t, Rey -”

Rey blinks in astonishment, then slaps a hand to her forehead. “Not like _that_ ,” she says. “I know you wouldn’t think I was like _them_. But what do you call it here?”

Poe’s cheeks regain some of their normal color. “Um. Well. Depending on the sort of relationship, it might be - um - boyfriend and girlfriend, or friends with benefits, or fuckbuddies, or married, or -”

“There’s a lot of words for it,” Jess Pava agrees, giving Poe a slightly strange look. “I take it being a favorite is bad?”

“Usually it’s fatal,” Finn says, shrugging. Jess Pava claps a hand over her mouth in horror.

“Right, yeah, none of us think you’d be like _that_ ,” she agrees. “I mean, maybe you’re a Darksider, Rey, but you’re good people.”

Finn feels the rush of astonished pleasure through their bond, but Rey doesn’t show it on her face, apart from going a bit pink in the cheeks. “Thanks,” she says solemnly. “I’m trying, anyway.”

“Well, that’s all any of us can do,” Poe says, in a very good imitation of his usual cheerful manner.

And then Tabala pokes her head into the mess hall, looking more worried than Finn has seen her yet. “Finn? Rey? The General wants to see you, please.”

“We’re coming,” Rey says, standing at once. Finn rises and takes her hand, and they follow Tabala out of the hall together.

*

“Apparently the First Order has decided that the destruction of Starkiller was a Resistance action,” General Leia says grimly when they join her in the command center. “Which I suppose it was, at least by one way of looking at it. So Snoke has decided to retaliate.” She flicks her fingers at the holomap in front of her, where half a dozen Republic worlds glow a sickly red.

“First Order forces led by Knights of Ren have hit all of these worlds already,” she says. “Thank the Force, they don’t have any actual planet-killers, but they’ve destroyed major cities in every system they’ve hit, and taken out most of the stations and deep-space infrastructure, too. Casualty counts are - obscene.”

Finn gestures grief, the ‘trooper sign of sorrow for fallen comrades. No one sees it but Rey, who offers a warm feeling like a hug through their bond. She’s more angry than sorrowful, though - and Finn honestly can’t blame her.

“Do we know where they’re going to hit next?” Rey asks.

“We’ve managed to intercept a few transmissions,” General Leia says, nodding. “The one tiny silver lining to this disastrous cloud is that they’re so deep in Republic space that we can tap their transmissions more easily. We are fairly sure that _this_ group of Star Destroyers, with two Knights of Ren - ah - Kilian and Kapera, if that means anything to you - are going to be headed for Atzerri next, probably on their way towards Hosnian.”

“Can we beat them there?” Finn asks, leaning forward to examine the map.

“...Possibly,” General Leia says. “Are you willing to go into battle so soon?”

“We are warriors,” Rey says. “And I have a score to settle with the Knights of Ren. If we _can_ beat the First Order to Atzerri, then Finn and I will go.”

“Thank you,” General Leia says solemnly. “I will send Commander Dameron and two squadrons of his X-Wings with you as escort, and to establish your bona fides with the government of Atzerri. You leave within the hour.”

“Ma’am,” Finn says, nodding and just barely restraining himself from saluting. Rey nods briskly.

“Good luck,” General Leia adds as they turn to leave. Rey shoots her a brief, fierce smile, more a baring of teeth than anything humorous.

“We don’t need luck, General,” she says. “We have the Force.”

*

Poe takes his sudden orders in stride, and Finn is quite impressed by how quickly their friend goes from affable, slightly silly Poe to fierce Commander Dameron, snapping off orders and striding through the base with BB-8 shrilling its own commentary at his heels. By the time Rey and Finn have gathered their weapons and reached the hangar, the X-Wing pilots are all bustling around their ships, astromech droids beeping and chirping in a delirious cacophony. The ship Rey and Finn have been assigned isn’t a fighter, but a swift transport; but then, they won’t be fighting from a _ship_. Atzerri, a few minutes’ quick research has discovered, has a very suitable small and uninhabited moon, with atmosphere and sufficient gravity but no people to get in the way.

Once they’re all in hyperspace, the comm crackles, and Poe asks, sounding almost idle, “So, once we get to Atzerri, what’s the plan?”

Rey grins. “We’ll make a formal challenge against the Knights of Ren. If they accept it, Finn and I will face them on that convenient little moon, and with luck, once they’re defeated we can compel the Star Destroyers’ commanders to surrender. If that doesn’t work, though...well, Finn and I can _both_ do that ship-crumpling trick I used against Kanjiklub, and with your X-Wings to clean up around the edges…”

“Just call us the janitorial crew,” Poe says easily. “Wait, you can _both_ do that?”

Finn chuckles. “It’s just Force-push with a lot of power behind it,” he says. “Like - oh - lifting a drinking glass. Only bigger.”

“...Buddy, you and I have different definitions of lifting a drinking glass, if you think that’s _anything_ similar to crushing a ship,” Poe says dubiously.

Rey giggles, and leans against Finn’s shoulder, some of the simmering rage draining out of her. “I guess he does,” she agrees, and Finn leans over to kiss the taste of laughter from her lips.

“Not on an open comm, you guys,” Poe complains, sounding more amused than offended, and severs the comlink. Rey laughs again and climbs out of her seat to curl up in Finn’s lap.

“We’ll be in hyperspace another hour or so,” she says. “Meditation?”

“While cuddling?” Finn asks curiously, and wraps his arms around her. “Sounds good to me.”

The song of the Force is waiting for him, rich and deep and beautiful, and somehow having Rey in his arms only makes it sweeter to fall into the endless glory of the song.

*

Atzerri is a pretty enough system, Finn supposes, with one planet and three moons, only two of them currently in use. The inhabitants are apparently Gotals, which Finn has never encountered before - the First Order isn’t big on nonhuman sapients - but he doesn’t have to deal with them much, since Poe takes on the responsibility of introducing the Resistance forces without being asked.

“We will begin evacuation of our major cities,” the Gotal who is apparently in charge tells Poe, once Poe has explained the circumstances. “We regret that we have no pilots who can assist you in defense of our system, but we will ensure that the staff of our fixed defenses are prepared to provide what covering fire they may. And should any of your pilots be injured, we have medical facilities near the spaceport which can assist non-Gotal patients, which will be made available to you.”

“Thank you, sir,” Poe says cheerfully. “We could not ask for more.” He switches to a Resistance-only link and adds, “We really couldn’t - Gotal don’t deal well with complicated electronics, so they can’t act as pilots. Having them on the fixed defenses is more than I expected.”

“Good to know,” Rey says, clearly filing the information away just as Finn is. “We’ll land on that uninhabited moon and set up - you know best what your X-Wings can do, so we’ll leave that entirely in your hands.”

“Sounds good to me,” Poe agrees. “Force be with you both.”

“Thank you,” Finn says, startled and genuinely touched.

Rey, of course, has her double-ended saberstaff, but Finn does not have a lightsaber at all. Snoke apparently guards the secret of where he gets the kyber crystals very closely, and in any case they’ve hardly had any time to go looking.

What Finn _does_ have is a blaster, a decent command of Force-lightning, and a very good shield. They’ll have to be enough.

*

It’s perhaps five hours before the Star Destroyers blink out of hyperspace and accelerate in-system towards the fixed defenses and the half-emptied cities on the planet below. Finn and Rey spend the time meditating or standing guard, trading off every half-hour, and when the First Order ships do finally loom into view, Finn feels pretty well rested and ready for the coming battle. Meditation is very nearly as good as sleep, sometimes.

Rey flicks on the comm to an unscrambled link as soon as the Star Destroyers are in range. “Knight Kilian! Knight Kapera! I am Rey of the Resistance, and I challenge you, cowards - come and face me ere you die.”

Finn rubs his forehead - that’s not _quite_ as formal as he might have made it - but it certainly seems to _work_. The comm crackles, and then a voice so coldly furious it makes Finn wince replies, “It will be our pleasure to crush you before we decimate this pitiful world, Rey of the Resistance. Await our coming, if you dare.”

A shuttle streaks out from one of the Star Destroyers scant minutes later. Finn watches it approach, gesturing wry amusement. “You’ve got a way with words sometimes, Rey.”

“It worked,” Rey says, shrugging. “That’s what matters, right?”

“I suppose,” Finn says, and then the shuttle is landing, and there is no more time for banter.

Lord Kilian is a tall, gaunt figure, pale from artificial lighting, with a mask covering the bottom half of his face. Lady Kapera is much shorter, masked and gloved so none of her skin shows, and her clothing is covered in nasty looking spikes. Eight Stormtroopers file out of the shuttle after them, forming a half-circle with their blasters in their hands, but Lord Kilian snarls, “Hold your fire, idiots. This scrawny imbecile is _mine_ to slay.”

“Come and try it,” Rey says, grinning fiercely. “Come and _die._ ”

And ignites the ends of her saberstaff.

Finn waits at her shoulder, watching the Knights of Ren closely. The longer they assume he’s nothing but a bodyguard, the better. Sure enough, they ignore him, and Lady Kapera hangs back as Lord Kilian stalks forward, his own red-bladed saber springing to life in his hand. He strikes at Rey, who leaps forward with a snarl, and the battle is joined.

Finn waits, watching the spinning chaos that is Rey and Lord Kilian with half an eye, most of his attention on Lady Kapera - and sure enough, once Rey is firmly embroiled in her battle, Lady Kapera raises a hand to summon Force-lightning. Finn bares his teeth in a smile just as fierce as Rey’s, and raises a _tutaminis_ shield between Rey’s battle and Lady Kapera, who snaps around to stare at him in shock.

“A Lightsider,” she snaps. “Where did _you_ come from?”

“Take a wild guess,” Finn says, stepping forward. “Gonna try that Force-lightning on _me_?”

Lady Kapera snarls and does just that, lashing Finn with a handful of blazing energy; but holding two _tutaminis_ shields is only a little harder than holding one, and Finn stands there grinning like a wolf as the Force-lightning is absorbed into his shields, which flare up stronger than ever.

“You’ll have to do better than _that_ ,” he says scathingly. Lady Kapera retaliates with yet more Force-lightning, waves of it that splinter against the _tutaminis_ shields and are absorbed. At last she drops her hands and stands there panting in exhausted confusion, and Finn laughs, feeling Rey’s fierce triumph as her saberstaff takes off Lord Kilian’s head.

“Maybe I _could_ have been a Knight of Ren, if you two are examples of the competition,” he says, and drops the shields as he raises his blaster, putting his own will and the Force behind the bolt.

Lady Kapera crumples to the ground, and Finn can feel the Force’s satisfaction as she dies.

“Surrender,” he says to the flabbergasted Stormtroopers, watching their fingers signal dismay and confusion to each other. “Surrender and you will not be harmed.”


	3. Chapter 3

“We are the Stormtroopers of the First Order,” says the highest ranking Stormtrooper firmly. “We do not surrender.”

“There’s always a first time for everything,” Finn says mildly as Rey comes to stand beside him, absently summoning Lady Kapera’s lightsaber to his hand. “I would be sorry to kill you, but I will if I must, and you cannot harm us.”

“We cannot surrender without orders,” the ranking Stormtrooper says awkwardly.

“Then go back to your ships and tell your Generals that they will surrender or they will die,” Rey says, gesturing to Finn. “ _He_ may care which you choose, but it is all one to me.”

“We...will bring your words to the Generals, Lady Rey,” the ranking Stormtrooper says, and the ‘troopers file into the shuttle obediently. Finn watches the shuttle rise and zip away towards the waiting Star Destroyers.

“What do you think they’re going to choose?” he asks idly.

“This first batch?” Rey says thoughtfully. “They’ll fight. As far as they know, we’re alone down here, and they _must_ know the Gotal don’t have fighter pilots.” She hums a little, considering. “If we manage to get _all_ of them, though, we can use that as leverage against the next batch.”

Finn nods. “Makes sense,” he agrees, and then the first Star Destroyer starts to spit TIE fighters, and Rey sets her staff aside gently.

“I’ll take the two on the left?” she says.

“Sounds good,” Finn agrees, and turns his attention to the two Star Destroyers on the right, each surrounded by its own little cloud of TIE fighters. He ignores the TIEs for now - time enough for them later - and reaches out with the Force, feeling Rey do the same beside him. He’s not actually as good at this as Rey is - he doesn’t have her instinctive understanding of mechanical systems, which _does_ help at least a little - but at its core all this really is is reaching out with the Force the same way he would with his hand, wrapping it around the ship and _squeezing_. A drinking glass would shatter under such a grip.

So does the Star Destroyer. Finn is actually rather startled. He’s never used Force-push on anything quite so _large_ before.

But there is another Star Destroyer to deal with. Finn makes a mental resolution to meditate for a few hours when he has time, and turns his attention to the second Star Destroyer. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Poe’s X-Wings shooting out from behind the fixed defenses, arrowing for the baffled TIE fighters. With any luck, this battle will be over before any of the TIE pilots can even figure out what happened.

The second Star Destroyer on his side stops dead in space, and Finn hesitates a moment, waiting to see what it will do. Beside him, Rey pauses too, her second Star Destroyer just barely crumpling under her will. If Finn’s Star Destroyer fires at them, he’ll have to shield them and _then_ destroy the ship; but its cannons do not arm. There’s a long, tense pause.

And then the tiny comm in their shuttle starts to beep insistently. Finn backs towards the shuttle, never taking his eyes off the Star Destroyers, and reaches in to tap the acceptance button. The shrill beeping is replaced by an equally shrill voice: a General Finn’s never met, he assumes, crying, “We surrender! We surrender! _We surrender_!”

“We accept,” Finn says, letting go of the Force with a sigh of relief. Rey drops her hand, releasing the slightly-crumpled Star Destroyer from her grip. “Evacuate your ships,” Finn orders, still watching the sky. “Order your TIE pilots to land on this moon and abandon their fighters. In twenty minutes, your ships will be destroyed, whether or not you are still aboard.” He frowns a little. “And when I say evacuate, I mean _everyone_ ,” he adds. “Officers and Stormtroopers alike. Every living person on board.”

“Yes, sir,” the unknown General replies, and doesn’t turn the comm off as she turns to her officers and snaps, “Everyone to the boat bays! Commence evacuation procedures. _Now_!”

Rey comes over to stand beside Finn, pausing to scoop up the two lightsaber hilts from their late enemies and then leaning against his shoulder as they watch the shuttles begin to flee from the immobile Star Destroyers. She reaches back to flick off the comm. “Out of curiosity,” she says, “what are we going to do with two Star Destroyers’ worth of prisoners?”

“Leave them with the Gotals,” Finn says, shrugging. “There’s not enough technology on Atzerri for them to get into serious trouble, and the Gotals owe us one for saving them, so they’ll take the prisoners if we ask, I should think. We could even have them kept on this moon - no way off without ships. Though we’d have to figure out food delivery, I suppose.”

The first shuttle lands nearby, and Rey turns, Force-lightning flickering around her fingers. The General who surrendered steps out, flanked by what Finn rather thinks is the same squad of Stormtroopers who watched as he and Rey slew the Knights of Ren. The General takes a deep breath and strides over to Rey and Finn, dropping gracefully to one knee in front of them.

“We surrender,” she says. There’s bitter fury in her words, but Finn doesn’t feel anything particularly treacherous about her. He nods.

“We accept,” Rey says coldly, closing her hand and snuffing the Force-lightning as more shuttles come in to land beside the first. “You will remain here. We will see to it that the people of Atzerri provide you with food and shelter. You will not return to the First Order, nor rejoin the war.” She raises her hand, and her power washes over the General and the Stormtroopers and the hordes of other First Order personnel disembarking behind them. “If you do, and I encounter you, I will know that you have broken your parole, and I will not be so merciful a second time.”

Finn can tell that she’s having trouble holding back the Force. The battle with the Knights has only roused her blood, and destroying a Star Destroyer was not enough to quench the battle-fury he knows can overtake her. “You will obey any orders from Poe Dameron of the Resistance as though they were ours,” he commands the General, putting a little Force behind the words so she cannot help but listen, and then he herds Rey gently into the shuttle and manages to get the airlocks sealed and the shuttle off the moon, so it’s hovering in deep space. Rey is shivering with the effort of holding back the power of the Force.

“The Star Destroyers,” Finn says to her, sending love and reassurance through their bond. “They’re empty. Take them apart.”

Rey snarls, the sound equal parts joy and rage, and turns to the viewscreen, stretching her hands towards the two empty Star Destroyers floating helplessly in space. Finn watches in awe as Rey reaches out with the Force. She doesn’t crumple the Star Destroyers - that would be too simple, not nearly satisfying enough. Instead, she rends them to pieces, and Finn, watching with wide eyes, can only imagine the terrible shrieking sounds of durasteel as it is bent beyond endurance and then torn apart by forces it was never meant to withstand.

And then, when the two Star Destroyers are nothing but floating clouds of shredded metal, Rey finally lets the Force drain away, and sags. Finn catches her neatly, and she nestles against him with a sigh.

“Thank you,” she says against his throat. Finn smiles and presses a kiss against her hair.

“Sleep, dearest,” he says softly. “I have you.”

“Yes,” Rey says, and slides into sleep as easily as breathing. Finn carries her carefully to the tiny bunk and tucks her in, leaning her staff against the wall beside her where she can see it when she wakes, and goes out to comm Poe and tell him that he has several thousand First Order prisoners to deal with. That should be fun.

*

“Alright then, that’s the last of them handed over to the Gotals,” Poe’s voice says cheerfully over the comm. “Shall we head on home again, buddies?”

Finn chuckles at the complete lack of military protocol. “Let me go wake Rey up, give me a few minutes,” he says, and goes padding back to the tiny bunk to find that Rey is at least half awake already. “You alright to fly?”

“Am I ever not?” Rey asks, amused, and sits up, taking the ration bar he offers her and eating it with quick, tidy bites. “Let’s go.”

She gets the shuttle into hyperspace on its way to Hoth with a few quick taps of the control panel, and Finn settles into the copilot’s chair and closes his eyes as the stars blur into streaks.

“You alright?” Rey asks Finn quietly.

“Yeah,” Finn says. “I just...that’s the first time I’ve used the Force to kill.”

“Ah,” Rey says, and gets out of the pilot’s chair to curl up in Finn’s lap instead. “Yeah. It’s...it’s not fun, is it.”

“No,” Finn says softly, burying his face in her hair. “Do you really think the next ones might surrender?”

“I hope so,” Rey says, muffled by his shoulder. “I know I _should_ like doing things like this - being Darkside - but -” She takes a deep breath. “I _did_ like fighting the Knights, and wrecking the empty Star Destroyers.” Finn, remembering the fierce joy that radiated down their bond during the battle, nods. “But I don’t like killing people who don’t - who don’t _deserve_ it,” she adds. “And you’re Lightside, so...you probably like that even less.”

“Yes,” Finn says, unutterably grateful that she’s put it into words. “I know they’d have killed us all - and the Gotals too - if we hadn’t stopped them. I know it was _necessary_. I just...wish it hadn’t been. The Knights, the officers, that’s one thing. I don’t mind killing _them_. But the ‘troopers…” He takes a deep breath. “I remember what it was to be loyal to the First Order. I know they’d kill us if they could. But I wish there was a way to set them free.”

“That’s what makes you Lightside,” Rey says quietly. “I just want our enemies _dead_. You want them to not be enemies anymore.”

“Do you think if we showed a clip of today, the next group we fight might stand down sooner?” Finn asks hopefully.

“Worth a try,” Rey says, shrugging. “Go ahead and meditate. I’ve got the ship.”

“Thank you,” Finn says gratefully, and lets himself slip into the glory of the Force.

*

“Well done,” General Leia says solemnly, once Poe has made his report. “All of you, well done.” She nods solemnly to Rey and Finn. “Thank you both for your invaluable assistance,” she tells them. “We could not have successfully defended Atzerri without you.”

“We would not have known where to find the Knights without you,” Rey says, shrugging. “And now there are two fewer of them.”

“Two fewer Knights, four fewer Star Destroyers, and an invaluable treasure trove of intelligence gained,” General Leia says, nodding. “I will be sending people out to question our new prisoners immediately.”

“Don’t bother questioning the Stormtroopers,” Finn says. “I don’t know about the officers, but Stormtroopers are all instructed to decommission themselves if captured and interrogated.”

“...Good to know,” General Leia says grimly. “Luke, if I send you, can you sit in on the officers’ interrogations and check for lies? And also make sure none of them suicide?”

“Certainly,” Skywalker says easily. “It would be my pleasure.” He nods to Rey and Finn. “I am not going to be as much use in combat as our young allies - even at my best I was not so skilled in those arts - but this, I can do.”

“Good,” General Leia says, nodding. “Now. As reluctant as I am to send you two out _again_ when you have just returned, we managed to intercept another set of transmissions while you were gone.”

Finn can feel Rey’s simmering anticipation as she nods. “Go on,” Rey says.

“There are five Star Destroyers, with three Knights, headed for Kuat,” General Leia says.

The planet’s name rings a bell. Finn frowns, thinking hard. “They’re going to destroy the shipyards,” he says slowly. “That’s...moderately clever. But Kuat surely has better defenses than Atzerri.”

“Vastly better,” General Leia agrees. “I assume that’s where the Knights come in. The Kuati defenses can hold against as many Star Destroyers as they need to - they were upgraded substantially after the Resistance hit Kuat, back in the day - but there aren’t any Force-users there to defend against the Knights.”

“There will be,” Rey says, with grim pleasure.

“There are three Knights, and only two of you,” General Leia points out. “I do not wish to send you to certain death; I would send my brother with you, but -”

“No,” Rey says. “Finn and I together are far stronger than any Knight of Ren could hope to be, and they do not fight _together_ , the way we do. They cannot join their powers, or rely on each other for mutual defense.”

“Why not?” Poe asks curiously.

Rey shrugs. Finn chuckles mirthlessly. “Because the only way to rise higher in the ranks of the Knights is to slay your opponents,” he says. “All the ‘troopers knew to get the kriff out of the way if two Knights started arguing. I expect they’d try to backstab each other in the middle of a battle if they thought they could get away with it.”

“Precisely,” Rey agrees. “Whereas Finn and I can trust each other. I know Finn will shield us both, and he knows I will stand between him and all danger. We needn’t spare any thought to defending against each other during battle.”

“Alright,” General Leia says. “You know your own capability best.” She glances at Poe. “We won’t be needing the X-Wings for this one, Dameron; if our friends can take out the Knights, Kuat’s defenses will be quite sufficient to deal with the Star Destroyers. Go and get some sleep; we probably _will_ need you in a few hours.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Poe says cheerfully, claps Finn and Rey on their shoulders, and goes sauntering off, BB-8 rolling at his heels.

“One small problem,” Finn says. “How are we supposed to keep the Kuati defenses from trying to blow _us_ out of orbit? They won’t know us from the First Order.”

“Which is why I will be sending you with my husband on the _Falcon_ ,” General Leia says. “He is known to several of the Kuati leaders.” She grimaces. “Admittedly mostly as a smuggler, but still, they’ll know he speaks for me.”

“Alright,” Rey says, nodding. “We can sleep on the _Falcon_ on the way there. Do you know which Knights we’ll be meeting, by any chance?”

“No,” General Leia says. “I’m sorry.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter much,” Rey says, shrugging. “Once we’re done with them, they won’t need their names anymore.”

*

“We’ll tell the Kuati to spare the ‘troopers,” Rey says quietly, curled up against Finn in one of the _Falcon’s_ tiny bunks. “Once we’ve killed the Knights.”

“Good,” Finn agrees, and falls asleep with Rey warm in his arms. He dreams of her mindscape - or perhaps walks in it while he sleeps, it’s not always clear - and spends several peaceful hours watching her make sand-sculptures, sinuous beautiful things that rise and fall like fountains.

When he wakes, he says quietly, “That’s how you see the Force, isn’t it.”

“Yes,” Rey says. “I know you hear it, and I can _sort_ of hear a little, but I _see_ it, all the beautiful ebbs and flows of it. It’s constantly building and constantly destroying and - I wish you could see it the way I do.”

“I wish you could _hear_ it the way I do,” Finn says. “It’s the most beautiful song, endless and changing and repeating.”

“Show me,” Rey says, and Finn laughs to realize they’ve never thought of that before, and chooses the memory of his very first meditation, spreading it out between their minds and basking in the remembered glory of the Force as it swept him away. Rey gasps in awe.

“Finn,” she says wonderingly. “Oh, _Force_ , that’s - that’s beautiful.”

Finn lets the memory fall away and finds himself looking up at Rey instead, as she leans over him with shining eyes. “Yes,” he says, smiling. “Beautiful.”

Rey gapes for a moment, and then giggles, their bond resonating with astonished delight. “Flattery will get you everywhere,” she says, voice warm with amusement, and kisses him. Finn wraps his arms around her and revels in the warmth of her, the comfortable weight of her body sprawled over his.

“I never flatter you,” he tells Rey quite sincerely. “You are too wonderful for words.”

“I don’t deserve you,” Rey says quietly, looking down at him with golden eyes. “But I’m keeping you anyway.”

“I’m yours,” Finn says simply. “Always.”

“Oh _stars_ ,” Rey breathes, and kisses him again.


	4. Chapter 4

Kuat is a _very_ well-defended system, Finn thinks, looking out of the _Falcon’s_ viewscreen at the fixed defenses and the orbiting ships and the rows of X-Wings parked on every moon, just waiting for their pilots.

“...Why are they not on high alert?” Rey asks, frowning. “Surely they know the First Order is raiding New Republic planets.”

Chewbacca yowls something. Han shrugs. “They probably don’t think anyone has the guts to actually attack _them_ ,” he translates. “Idiots. I’ll start comming anybody who might be smart enough to listen; you two - do whatever it is you need to do.”

“The Star Destroyers will be here in six hours whether you convince anyone or not,” Finn points out grimly. “Rey, where do you want to challenge the Knights?”

Rey frowns. “There _aren’t_ any uninhabited moons in this system,” she says. “If we can get most of the people off of one of the fortified ones - but the Knights wouldn’t come down. They’re not _that_ stupid. Mostly.”

“They’re not,” Finn agrees, an idea sprouting full-formed in his mind, “but what if _we_ were?”

“What?” Rey asks, blinking at him in confusion.

“They’d never come into a place _we_ had backup,” Finn says, starting to smile. “So they certainly wouldn’t expect us to willingly come to _them_ …”

*

“Knights of the First Order!” Rey snaps into the comm. “I am Rey of the Resistance. I challenge you, cowards, to face me in battle - I shall hang your lightsabers upon my wall as trophies, alongside those I have already won!”

The officer on the other side of the comm link is drawing breath to respond when someone _shoves_ him out of the way and takes his place. “Who dares offer such defiance?” the Knight of Ren roars.

“One who does not fear you, coward,” Rey taunts. “No, nor your companions, nor your _Master_ either. Choose your ground! I shall see you dead before me ere I sleep again.”

The Knight snarls, reaching for the comm like he thinks he can reach right through it and strangle Rey. “Come and die, fool,” he snarls. “We will be _waiting_.” He whirls, cloak swirling, and stalks out of the comm’s range, leaving a baffled officer to pick himself up off the floor.

“The...the third boat bay will be cleared for your arrival,” the officer says, sounding rather like he can’t believe the words coming out of his mouth.

“We will be there,” Rey says smugly, and cuts the comm link, then whirls to hug Finn fiercely. “It worked!”

“Yay,” Han says dryly. “Now you get to walk onto a Star Destroyer and fight Darksiders to the death. I know that’s how I like to spend all of _my_ mornings.”

Rey laughs. Finn shrugs. “Well, when you put it like that, it sounds stupid,” he admits. “I mean, that’s the point. We want them to think we’re idiots.”

“Just as long as you don’t get yourselves killed,” Han grumbles. “Leia would never forgive me.”

“We’ll be fine,” Rey says. “You just make sure the Kuatis are ready to take a couple thousand prisoners when we’re done.”

“On it,” Han promises, and Chewbacca wails something that’s probably meant to be reassuring. “They’ve stopped giving me the runaround, at least. Nothing like a handful of Star Destroyers showing up to get people to _focus_.”

Finn snorts. “Yeah,” he agrees. “That does tend to lend a certain _urgency_ to matters.”

“Just a bit,” Rey agrees dryly. “Can’t imagine why.” She grins at Finn, their bond warm with affection, and Finn smiles back. He’s not worried. He and Rey can do anything they put their minds to, after all.

*

There are three Knights of Ren waiting for them in the boat bay, with three squads of Stormtroopers ranged around the walls and a small handful of officers clustered off to one side, looking baffled and unhappy.

Finn ignores the officers and the ‘troopers for the moment. They will stay out of this, at least until the battle is over. Then - well, he and Rey will deal with that when they need to.

He doesn’t recognize the Knights of Ren. One is the man who accepted Rey’s challenge, one a woman with double lightsabers, and one he honestly can’t tell whether they’re male or female or even human, their black cloak is so overwhelming. They all sound like sour notes in the Force, though, sickening and foul, so Finn figures it doesn’t really matter who they are - they’re all going to be dead soon, if he and Rey have anything to say about it.

“We really should get you a lightsaber,” Rey says, almost idly. “You could take one of theirs, when we’re done.”

“If I wanted a lightsaber I could have kept one of the last two,” Finn points out. “I’m honestly happy with just the blaster - and I think - I think there’s a lightsaber waiting for me, somewhere. I’ll wait till I find it.”

“You know best,” Rey shrugs, and steps forward. The Knights of Ren draw their lightsabers. Finn takes his place at Rey’s shoulder, paying more attention to the song of the Force than to the scene in front of him, waiting to hear them reaching for the Force.

“ _You_ dare challenge us?” the cloaked Knight asks, contempt dripping from their voice. “A nobody and her dog?”

Finn raises an eyebrow. “Is that the best insult you can come up with?” he asks curiously. “Really, Rey, I thought the Knights were trained better than _that_.”

Rey giggles. “So did I,” she says. “I mean, they could at _least_ have called me a bantha-kriffer or something.”

“Exactly!” Finn agrees, listening to the sound of the Knights getting steadily angrier, their notes in the Force growing ever more out of tune. “I am disappointed, really I am. I thought they might actually be a _challenge_.”

“Pity,” Rey says idly, and the cloaked Knight flings Force-lightning at them with a furious snarl.

Finn’s _tutaminis_ shield is in place even before the Force-lightning leaves the cloaked Knight’s hand, and he and Rey stand there with bored expressions on their faces as the shield absorbs it all.

There’s a moment of tense silence as the cloaked Knight lowers their hand, and then all three Knights draw their lightsabers and lunge forward. Finn drops the shield, and Rey leaps forward with her saberstaff held high, the two blades humming. Finn steps back a little so he can see the whole battle - Rey is whirling in a tight circle, striking out ruthlessly and keeping the Knights’ attention firmly on her - and draws his blaster.

He aims first for the cloaked Knight who tried to strike them with Force-lightning, putting all of his own will behind the shot, and the Knight keels over with an astonished sound. The Force thrums, another sour note fading from its song. Finn knows his teeth are bared in a grin that has more of bloodlust than of mirth in it, Rey’s battle-fury echoing down their bond to make Finn’s heart beat faster and his breath come quick.

The male Knight turns away from Rey to give Finn an incredulous look, as though he had not expected Finn’s bolt to reach its mark - and to be fair, most Force-users _can_ block blaster bolts if they’re not distracted and the person shooting doesn’t have the Force - and Finn laughs in his face and raises his _tutaminis_ shield as the Knight strikes at him with his lightsaber. It _bounces_ , which the Knight was clearly not expecting, and Finn takes the golden opportunity to drop the shield and kick the Knight in the chest, a gorgeous high kick that any of his instructors would be proud of, knocking him back into the sweep of Rey’s saberstaff. The male Knight’s headless body crumples to the floor.

The female Knight backs up one step, then another. Rey turns to face her, saberstaff held easily in one hand. The bottom blade scores the deck.

“I know you,” the female Knight says, voice high and shrill with fear. “I _know you_! You’re _Kaisra_!”

“I was called that,” Rey replies coldly. “But that is not my name.” She stalks forwards, the female Knight stumbling backwards before her. “My name is _Rey_.” Her staff hisses as it cuts the air, her reach much longer than the female Knight had anticipated, and the Knight screams as her severed hand, still clutching a lightsaber hilt, falls clattering to the floor.

“Speak my name, and die swift,” Rey snarls. “Or call me again by that false name, and die as slowly as I can contrive.”

“Rey!” the Knight cries desperately. “Your name is Rey!”

Rey’s saberstaff hisses again, and the Knight falls, dead before she hits the ground. Rey turns, slowly, to look at the astonished officers in their cluster.

“Surrender,” she says, voice cold as the wind of Hoth. “Or I will take this Star Destroyer to pieces about your ears.”

“The First Order does not surrender!” the highest-ranking officer sputters, and Rey shrugs and strides forward, saberstaff hissing as she swings it in menacing arcs.

“Then the First Order can die,” she says. “And I will start with _you_.”

And then she doubles over, clutching at her stomach, and cries out, shrill and terrible. Finn staggers as the pain lances through their bond, then raises his blaster. He doesn’t know what’s gone wrong, but he’s not going to let the officers take advantage of Rey’s sudden incapacitation.

The officers haven’t been paying any attention to Finn, assuming, as the Knights did, that he is merely Rey’s dog - Finn’s blaster fire was easy enough to miss with Rey and her saberstaff to watch, after all. They do not have the Force to shield them, either. Finn shoots them down as easily as breathing, one after another, until the entire cluster of officers is nothing but a heap of corpses, and then, leaving the _tutaminis_ shield to keep the Stormtroopers where they are, he holsters his blaster and sprints to Rey’s side.

Rey is on her knees, curled around her stomach, panting with agony. Finn drops down beside her and puts his hands on her shoulders, _pouring_ the Force into her, pure Light and healing. Rey makes a horrible sound, like a strangled scream, and then Finn feels his power reach _something_ deep within her, something like a great fishhook made of Darkness, and he plucks it out of her with a snarl of pure protective rage, crushes it with the Light, and heals his bondmate with a wave of power so strong he knows they must both be glowing with it. Rey gasps in sudden relief and sags into Finn’s arms.


	5. Chapter 5

They kneel there for a long moment, Finn keeping the _tutaminis_ shield up around them so that no First Order officers or Stormtroopers can get any clever ideas. At last Rey draws in a deep breath and sits back on her heels.

“What _was_ that?” Finn asks.

“Snoke,” Rey says grimly. “There must have been a live comm of this back to his headquarters. He discovered I was alive.”

“And had left something in you to kill you if you ever betrayed him,” Finn says, grimacing as the last few minutes begin to make a dreadful sort of sense.

“Which means now he knows _you_ exist,” Rey says grimly. “Or - well - _someone_ with the Light and a reason to keep me alive.”

“He might assume I’m Skywalker,” Finn says. “Although...that probably isn’t any better.”

“Ugh,” Rey says, and scrubs a hand over her face. “Right. Well. We need to finish up here and get back to the Resistance to let them know I’m not a secret weapon anymore.” She looks up at the Stormtroopers, who are still lined up against the wall. Finn glances down at their fingers to see them signing worry and confusion and fear back and forth down the line. “You,” Rey snaps, pointing at the squad leader. “Who commands this ship?”

“General Forban, ma’am,” the Stormtrooper says, voice shaking.

“And where is he?” Rey demands, rising to her feet and summoning her saberstaff with a gesture.

“In that heap, ma’am,” the Stormtrooper says nervously. Rey glances at the piled corpses.

“Alright,” she says, “who’s the highest ranking officer still alive?”

The Stormtrooper hesitates, and Finn suspects he’s running through the command structure in his mind. Stormtroopers don’t usually have to think about which officers are higher ranking than others - _any_ officer outranks _any_ Stormtrooper, and since these ‘troopers were presumably bodyguards, they had even less reason to pay attention to the constant backstabbing and rank-pulling among the officers.

“Commander Terrin,” the Stormtrooper says at last. “He’ll - he’ll be on the bridge, ma’am.”

“Yes,” Rey says tersely. “But he’s _watching_ this, I can _feel_ it.” She raises her head and glares around the boat bay, baring her teeth in an expression that not even a fool would think was truly a grin. “Commander Terrin!” she snarls. “You will surrender your forces to me, or I swear on the Force itself I shall tear this ship to shreds and leave you breathing vacuum, you and all your ilk. You have three minutes before I lose my patience, starting _now_.”

Finn counts down the time in his head as he gets to his feet and collects the fallen lightsaber hilts. He doesn’t want to _use_ the lightsabers - they’re not for him, he can feel it in the Force - but there’s no point leaving them around for anyone else to pick up, either. One minute. Two minutes. The Stormtroopers are starting to look _truly_ nervous now, their hand-signals jittery with fear. Two minutes and thirty seconds. Forty. Forty-five.

Rey raises a hand and calls the Force to her, letting the Force-lightning dance around her fingertips. The crackling is very loud in the near-silent boat bay. “I have crushed starships before,” she says quietly. “I shall not hesitate to do as much again.”

Five seconds. Four. Three. Finn braces himself, hoping he _can_ use the _tutaminis_ shield to hold air around the two of them when Rey rends the Star Destroyer into its component atoms.

Two seconds.

“We surrender!” cries a voice from the loudspeaker. “Please, please, we surrender, don’t crush us.”

“I want every officer on this ship down in this boat bay,” Rey says. “You have ten minutes. _Move_.”

“Yes ma’am!” says the terrified voice, and Rey lets the Force-lightning fade from her fingers and shakes her hand out a little. Finn moves to stand at her shoulder, waiting, his hand only inches from his blaster.

The first officer comes stumbling into the boat bay two minutes later, and after him the other officers pour in, a flood of black uniforms and faces taut with terror. They form ranks, not as tidily as Stormtroopers would, staring at Rey with her saberstaff and Finn at her side with wide, uncomprehending eyes. The last officers come sprinting in just before Rey’s deadline. Rey looks them all over coldly.

“Which of you is Commander Terrin?” she demands.

“He’s dead, ma’am,” one of the front-row officers says, voice shaking. “He wouldn’t surrender.”

Rey raises an eyebrow. “So First Order officers _do_ have brains,” she says coolly. “Occasionally.”

The officer - a lieutenant - goes pale at the insult, but she does stand her ground. Rey sniffs dismissively. “Order the ship evacuated,” she says. “Surrender to the Kuati authorities. If any of you have any clever plans for sabotage, think again. I do not want to have to come _back_.”

Finn sees the shiver go through the officers, fear and awe in equal measure. Rey has them in the palm of her hand. His beautiful, deadly, _glorious_ Rey.

*

The other four Star Destroyers surrender once Finn crumples one of them a little and Rey hisses threats into the _Falcon’s_ comm, and once they’ve all been evacuated and the shuttles are streaming towards Kuat and the waiting X-Wings, Rey crushes the Star Destroyers and sends the shattered hulks spiraling down into Kuat’s sun with a flick of her fingers. Han and Chewbacca watch with almost identical wide-eyed expressions, which is sort of hilarious, actually.

And then Finn takes Rey and a whole bunch of ration bars and retreats into one of the tiny bunks, and Rey sleeps for six hours in his arms while he meditates and then eats almost half her weight in ration bars, and then _Finn_ sleeps for four hours while Rey meditates, and eats the rest of the ration bars and another half dozen Rey summons down the corridor, and by then they’re nearly back to Hoth.

Poe greets them on the tarmac, BB-8 whirring in circles around his feet with eagerness. “Buddies!” Poe says as they reach him, and hauls them both into an embrace. Finn can feel Rey’s surprise through their bond - and can feel the moment it turns into tentative joy, too. It’s nice to have a friend who isn’t terrified of their power. “Success?”

“Success,” Rey says, nodding. “Kuat’s safe for now.”

“Awesome,” Poe says, grinning and turning with his arms around both of their shoulders to lead them down the tunnel towards the General’s office. “We’re damn lucky you joined us, you know.”

“It was join you or try to run far enough to escape the First Order entirely,” Finn points out. “And since Rey still wants Kylo Ren’s guts, we couldn’t really leave.”

“Still!” Poe says cheerfully. “Whatever your reasons, we’re glad to have you.”

“ _You’re_ glad,” Rey says. “And the General. But most of your comrades are scared witless of us, you know.”

“Eh,” Poe says, shrugging. “Tabala likes you. And Jess and Snap think you’re alright. But none of them have my - um - personal knowledge that you’re - well - _good_.”

“Finn’s good,” Rey says, shrugging out from under Poe’s arm. “I’m not.”

Poe stops and reaches out to touch Rey’s shoulder gently. She turns to look up at him, golden-eyed and deadly. “You may be a Darksider,” Poe says softly, “but if you were truly evil, there’s no way the General would trust you, and no way Finn would love you as much as he clearly does.”

The bond between Finn and Rey glows with Rey’s shock and pleasure. Finn replies with his own depthless adoration, and Rey nods slowly, a tiny smile creeping onto her face.

“Thanks,” she says quietly, and tucks herself under Poe’s arm again. Poe chuckles warmly.

“No problem, buddy,” he replies. “What else are friends for?”

The General looks up as they enter her office, and raises an eyebrow at Poe, who grins back.

“Look what I found!” he says. “Home are the heroes!”

General Leia smothers a laugh. “Welcome back,” she says to Rey and Finn. “What news do you have for me?”

“The Knights are dead,” Rey says calmly. “The surviving officers and Stormtroopers surrendered to the Kuati forces. And Snoke knows I’m alive.”

“...Well, that last could be better,” General Leia says mildly. “How did he find out?”

“We think there was an open comm line while Rey and I were dealing with the Knights,” Finn says.

“Ah,” General Leia says. “Yes, that would do it.” She gives Rey a small smile. “You are quite recognizable, my dear.”

Rey grimaces. “So he knows we’re working against him,” she says bluntly. “He’s probably going to send Kylo Ren to hunt me down.”

General Leia winces almost imperceptibly. “It seems likely,” she agrees. “Which means we must not send you after any of the other Knight-led First order expeditions.” She musters a tiny, grim smile. “Fortunately, shortly after your victory at Kuat, the other four raiding parties began to retreat back into First Order space. I presume Snoke called them back.”

“Good,” Rey says, nodding. “That...is good, right?”

“It means no more Republic worlds are going to be devastated in the next few weeks,” General Leia says wearily. “And the raids have awoken the Republic to the danger of the First Order’s spread. But the Senate is _dithering_. We’re stuck here on Hoth for at least a few more months, and if Kylo Ren is going to come looking for you -”

“We can’t lead him here,” Rey says immediately. “It would be - terrible.”

Poe shudders. Finn touches his shoulder gently, trying to reassure the pilot. “We can go elsewhere,” Finn says.

“We can set a trap for him,” Rey suggests. “If we go somewhere and let the galaxy know where we are, he’ll be there in _days_.”

“With a fleet,” General Leia points out.

“No,” Rey says, grinning fiercely. “He’ll come in the _Finalizer_ , and he’ll come fast. He’s impulsive, and his pride will be hurt.”

“Alright,” Finn says, “where should we set our trap, then?”

Rey frowns. General Leia taps a control on her desk, and a holomap rises to hover in the air. Poe says, thoughtfully, “D’Qar.”

“What?” Finn says, startled.

“It’s already got food and shelter,” Poe says, shrugging, “and the First Order knows where it is, so we won’t be giving up a possible future hideout. And it’s...symbolic.”

Rey and Finn glance at each other. Finn shrugs. Rey nods.

“Yes,” she says. “D’Qar will work nicely.”

“Very well,” General Leia says wearily. “D’Qar it shall be.”

*

D’Qar Base is still as bleak as it was weeks ago, all shattered stone and devastation. Finn steps out of the shuttle with a sigh, and Rey hops down beside him with her nose wrinkled. “Ugh,” she says. “I never thought I’d say this, but I prefer Hoth.”

“It’s warmer here, at least,” Finn says. “And we can clear ourselves a room easily enough.”

“True,” Rey agrees, and they spend the rest of the day tidying. They manage to clear out a room next to the pantries, so they don’t have to go too far from their sleeping quarters to find food, and Rey tinkers with the refresher until it works properly. By the time they’re done, it’s late, the sun sinking behind the distant mountains majestically.

“It’s time,” Rey says softly, and settles herself on a fallen block of stone. Finn stands beside her, guarding against anything that might approach. He can feel it as Rey falls into meditation, into the endless glory of the Force.

He can feel it when she _shouts_ , too, for anyone who has the Force to hear. _Here I am_ , she calls, fierce and furious and vicious. _Here I am. Come if you dare._

The Force shivers with her challenge, and Finn knows that every Force-user in the galaxy must have felt that. The Force brings him a distant feeling of General Leia and Luke Skywalker, startled and unsettled by Rey’s call; a cluster of knots of startled, terrified anger that are the remaining Knights of Ren; and even further away, a dark rage that must be Kylo Ren, and an even darker blot of hatred that can only be Snoke himself.

“They heard,” Rey says hoarsely. Finn nods. Oh yes. They heard.

“I don’t think they could have helped it,” he says wryly. “Dinner?”

“Dinner,” Rey agrees, and then unwinds from the fallen stone and pulls Finn into a hungry, biting kiss. It’s much fiercer than any they’ve shared yet, and Finn stumbles back until he finds a wall and wraps his arms around Rey and does his best to kiss back as well as he can.

“I’m going to kill Kylo Ren,” Rey says softly as they break apart, panting. “But - but he might take me with him. And I am not going to die without having you - damn it, there must be a better word.”

“Fucking?” Finn suggests, and Rey scowls harder. Finn kisses her softly, long slow kisses that make her shiver and almost melt against him. “Alright, not fucking,” Finn murmurs. “How about making love?”

“Yes,” Rey says, golden eyes glowing in the twilight. “That.”

“Yes,” Finn agrees, and kisses her again. Rey winds her arms around his shoulders and her legs around his waist, and Finn laughs against her mouth and carries her into the base, down the thankfully short corridor to the room they’ve chosen, kicking the door closed behind them.

“You do know I have only the vaguest idea what I’m doing,” he says as he sits down on the bunk, Rey in his lap. “I mean, I may have spent a couple years as favorite to a Knight of Ren, but -”

Rey giggles, joy bubbling through their bond. “You mean you didn’t learn every possible trick in order to keep your vicious commander from growing weary of you?”

“Oddly, no,” Finn says, cupping a hand around Rey’s cheek and rubbing their noses together. “Must’ve gotten lucky and had a particularly un-homicidal Knight.”

“Very odd,” Rey agrees. “But I’m sure we can figure something out.”

“Yes,” Finn agrees, and leans back far enough to tug his tunic off. Rey laughs and does the same, wriggling out of her breastband with a sinuous motion that makes Finn’s mouth go dry. “My beautiful Rey,” he marvels.

Rey grins. “My lovely Finn,” she agrees, running one hand down Finn’s chest curiously. “You know, I haven’t the faintest idea what we’re doing either.”

Finn chuckles. “Well,” he says, “we’re good at improvising.”

“True,” Rey agrees. “And you’ve got that fine tactical mind.”

Finn kisses her, one hand spread across her back, reveling in the warmth of skin on skin. “Then my fine tactical mind suggests we should be naked,” he says quietly. “And then I think I might have a couple of ideas.”

Rey squirms out of his lap to shuck out of her trousers. “Oh?”

Finn wriggles out of his own pants, eyes fixed on his beautiful bondmate, her skin glowing in the dim lights. “The other ‘troopers used to give me advice,” he says absently. “Suggestions. So I could keep you satisfied.”

“Really?” Rey asks, raising an eyebrow. “You never told me.”

“We were usually a little busy,” Finn points out, and opens his arms. Rey slides back into his lap, and Finn makes a soft sound of astonishment at the sheer glory of holding her, naked, skin-on-skin. Rey gasps and shivers.

“True,” she admits. “So. What sort of things did they suggest?”

“Hmmm,” Finn says, and mentally flicks through the lists of all the many pieces of fragmentary advice the various ‘troopers of the bodyguard gave him over the years he was Lady Kaisra’s favorite. “I liked this one,” he says at last, and tumbles back onto the bunk, rolling them over so Rey is flat on her back and sliding down until he’s kneeling between her spread knees, staring down at Rey gleaming against the dark sheets, and then he bends down and licks, hungry and wet, between her legs. Rey makes a sound he’s never heard before and _shudders_ , hands coming down to grip at his shoulders, and Finn feels her shocked pleasure reverberate down their bond. Now _that’s_ useful. He experiments, tongue and teeth and lips, listening hard to their bond, and finds the perfect rhythm and pressure to make Rey moan aloud - a beautiful sound, one he wants to hear every day forever - and shiver beneath his hands on her hips and finally cry out, low and sweet, as their bond rings with ecstasy.

“Kriff,” Rey says as Finn sits back on his heels, wiping his mouth clean and not quite able to stop grinning. “Kriff, that was -” She scrambles up onto her knees and kisses Finn fiercely, moaning at the taste of her own pleasure on his lips.

“Yeah, it was,” Finn agrees. Rey laughs and topples him backwards, ending up straddling his hips, still kissing him, and Finn can’t quite help arching up against her, cock trapped between them, and oh, he could come just like this -

“Finn,” Rey says. “What else did they suggest?”

Finn gropes for coherent thought, and moans into Rey’s mouth as she squirms atop him. “They said - they said - right at the beginning, when you’d just chosen me - they said of course you’d rather ride me, because Knights don’t like giving up control, and I should learn to be good with my hands.”

“Ride you?” Rey says thoughtfully, propping herself up with her hands on Finn’s chest and looking down at him admiringly. “You’re already good with your hands, though.”

“On you,” Finn says, low and hungry, and slides one hand down between them, brushing gently over the curls between Rey’s legs and then further down, where she’s wet and open. Rey gasps, nails digging into his chest and eyes wide and glowing like tiny suns. Finn concentrates hard on their bond as he strokes her, one finger slipping ever-so-slightly into her. Rey’s head goes back and she whimpers, bond flaring with desire. “You’re not a blaster or a lightsaber. I’m good with my hands on _those_ , but not on you - not yet.”

Rey shudders again, throat one long pale line that Finn wants desperately to kiss. “I - I have to disagree,” she says hoarsely. “Oh _Force_ , do that - do that again -”

Finn rubs his thumb in another slow circle, and watches hungrily as Rey arches above him. Their bond is humming with her pleasure, and it’s so good, better than anything but the Force itself. “Oh,” Rey says softly, and then, “They said I’d ride you, did they?”

“That was their best guess,” Finn agrees. “Thought you’d take - take what’s yours.”

“What’s mine,” Rey says, golden eyes meeting his, and Finn smiles as their bond thrums with possessive desire.

“What’s yours,” Finn agrees, licking his lips and smiling when her eyes follow his tongue. “Always.”

“Mine,” Rey says softly. “May I?”

“Yes,” Finn says, just as softly, and when Rey rises up a little higher on her knees he guides his cock up and just barely into her, and waits, shivering with pleasure and the difficulty of holding still, while she slides ever so slowly down.

“Mine,” she says as their hips meet at last. Finn shudders, hard, and gets his thumb back between her legs, moving in slow easy circles that make her moan.

“Yours,” he agrees, and Rey leans down to kiss him, and they are moving together, as easily as sparring, as smoothly as they do in battle.

When Finn comes, it’s like nothing else in the galaxy, and he could swear the Force rejoices with them, that this too is part of the great glory of the song.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: character death (not Rey or Finn or Poe!)

The next morning, Finn sits down in the brilliant sunlight, out in the middle of a grassy field, and spreads the five lightsabers he and Rey have won out across a blanket. He’s no _mechu-deru_ , to know the inner workings of a piece of machinery as soon as he touches it, but the lightsabers are all variations on a theme, and once he gets the first one disassembled - with only a little advice from Rey, lounging in the grass beside him - the other four are easy enough. He lays the metal parts out tidily, like with like, and then puts the kyber crystals in a neat line in front of him, and frowns.

None of them calls to him, but he knew that already. His lightsaber is somewhere else; he’ll find it eventually. But Rey thinks he’ll need a lightsaber for the upcoming fight, and Rey’s hunches are usually correct. He frowns at the crystals for another long moment, then shrugs and closes his eyes, reaching out to the Force.

Two of the crystals are utterly wrong, and Finn tosses them off to one side, faintly aware of Rey catching them with the Force and making them dance around each other. The other three aren’t exactly _right_ , but they’re...less wrong. One of them is more attuned to Rey, though, and Finn tosses it over to her as well. The other two, he thinks, are from the two Knights he himself has killed, and therefore recognize him as their owner by right of conquest.

Finn reaches out with the Force, surrounding the kyber crystals with the Light, forcing his power into them. One of them shatters, some hidden flaw unable to bear the power he’s pouring into them. The other one...adapts. Finn can feel it shifting, changing, to focus his power instead of its dead former master’s. At last it’s as perfect as it’s going to get, not _quite_ the lightsaber which will be waiting for him someday, but better than any other. Finn opens his eyes and puts out his hand to catch the floating crystal, and smiles.

It’s not red anymore. Even his Light could not make it clear again, after so long in the hands of a Knight of Ren, but it is a deep, lovely purple, like the sky over D’Qar just after sunset.

“Alright,” he says quietly. “Show me how to make a lightsaber, then.”

Rey rolls to her feet and comes padding over across the grass to sink down beside him. “Alright,” she says, and reaches out. “You start with this…”

*

They spend the next two days practicing, Finn’s new lightsaber against Rey’s saberstaff, sparring back and forth across D’Qar’s broken tarmac until they both know every inch of the ground as well as they do their own mindscapes. Finn finds the lightsaber surprisingly easy to use; it’s light in his hands, agile, answering almost more to thought than movement. Rey grins at him after every sparring match, resting on her staff and panting.

“You’re good,” she says, the second evening. “I mean, you’ve always been good, but -”

Finn laughs and kisses her. “I have a good teacher,” he says, and Rey laughs bright and joyful as the sunrise.

The next morning she wakes with a start, staring up at the ceiling of their little bedroom, and says, “He’s coming.”

*

Finn waits beside Rey on the tarmac, watching the _Finalizer_ loom into view above D’Qar. Rey is practically vibrating with contained rage. Finn sends reassurance and love down their bond until Rey calms a little, leans against his shoulder and takes a deep breath.

“We’re going to kill Kylo Ren,” Finn says quietly. “And then we can bring Poe his head as a gift.”

Rey snorts a laugh, and stands up straight, shaking out her jitters and squaring her shoulders. “Yeah,” she agrees. “I think he’d appreciate that.”

A shuttle emerges from the _Finalizer_ and comes skimming down towards the landing field - Kylo Ren’s own personal transport. Finn takes a deep breath and lets his fingers skim over the lightsaber hilt hanging at his belt, the blaster on the other side.

The transport lands, and Kylo Ren steps out, as tall and ominous as ever. Behind him, to Finn’s surprise, three more Knights of Ren file out of the transport. And then, behind _them_ , ten Stormtroopers who form up neatly in two ranks of five and settle into place with the air of people who expect to be waiting for a while.

Kylo Ren stalks forward, the other three Knights on his heels, and stops a few yards away. “Kaisra,” he hisses.

“My name is _Rey_ ,” Rey snaps.

“Kaisra,” Kylo Ren repeats smugly. “Surrender now, and perhaps I will make your death swift.”

Rey bares her teeth. “You lie,” she says. “And I will never bow to you again.”

Kylo Ren chuckles, an ugly sound. “Very well,” he says. “Remember that I offered mercy, when you beg for it in days to come.” He beckons to the three Knights behind him. “Take her alive,” he orders. “Her death is mine. Whoever defeats her will earn her place at my right hand.”

The three Knights come forward eagerly, lightsabers springing to life in their hands, and Rey ignites her saberstaff with a snarl. “Come on then,” she says, and leaps.

Finn doesn’t watch the clash of lightsabers as Rey and the three Knights whirl and battle across the tarmac. He knows Rey will be fine, can feel it in the bright fury of their bond, in the eager song of the Force. Finn focuses, instead, on Kylo Ren.

“Rey will not fail,” Finn says quietly, and Kylo Ren’s mask snaps around so that the Darksider can glare at him.

“And who are _you_ , then?” Kylo Ren sneers. “Her dog? Some slumdweller she found to kneel at her feet?”

Finn laughs. “I had rather kneel at her feet than yours,” he says easily. “She is all glory and wonder. _You_ are nothing but a sour note in the great song.”

Kylo Ren snarls. “I shall make you eat those words,” he says, and draws his lightsaber. Finn smiles, letting Rey’s battle-fury echo through him and give his reflexes that tiny extra edge he’s going to need, and draws the purple ‘saber from his belt.

“You are welcome to try,” he says, and brings the ‘saber up to meet Kylo Ren’s first attack in a sizzling crash.

Kylo Ren is not expecting Finn to know what he’s doing. He clearly _does_ think that Finn is just some Resistance member Rey has picked up and given a stolen ‘saber - though how he’s explaining the purple blade to himself, Finn isn’t sure. But Finn has been Rey’s apprentice for more than two years now, and before that he was the best in his entire Stormtrooper class at armed and unarmed combat, and the Force sings all its secrets to him. He finds himself laughing as he meets every attack, ‘saber a blur, and when Kylo Ren tries to use the Force to fling him back, Finn raises a _tutaminis_ shield as swift as thought, and laughs again at the shock that resonates through the song of the Force as Kylo Ren realizes what he has done.

And _then_ Finn lets Rey’s battle-fury send him leaping forward to attack.

Kylo Ren is not expecting that, apparently. Finn drives him back, and back again, and he can feel Kylo Ren beginning to panic, beginning to _fear_. Behind Finn, Rey cuts down one of the Knights - Finn feels the death in the Force, a sour note gone at last - and Kylo Ren flinches.

It’s the opening Finn needs to knock the red ‘saber out of his opponent’s hands, sending it flying, and he follows that up with a side kick that’s one of Rey’s favorite moves. Kylo Ren stumbles, doubled over, and tries desperately to retreat - stumbles again.

Falls.

Finn stands looking down at Rey’s nightmare as he kneels in the dust of the broken tarmac. Kylo Ren’s breath hisses through the mask.

“ _Jedi_ ,” Kylo Ren says scornfully. “You will not kill me. It’s not the Jedi way.”

“It’s not,” Finn agrees, ‘saber held loosely in one hand. “A Jedi would bring you back to the Resistance, to your mother, to justice.” Behind him, Rey kills another of her opponents, triumphant bloodlust surging through their bond as she cries out, shrill and fierce as a hawk’s scream.

Kylo Ren laughs, and Finn shrugs. “Only one problem,” he says mildly. “I’m not a Jedi.”

The purple ‘saber takes Kylo Ren’s head off as easily as Finn could desire, and as the Master of the Knights of Ren falls, Finn feels Rey, gleeful, cut down her last opponent ruthlessly. He turns, dropping the ‘saber and opening his arms, as she darts across the battlefield and flings herself at him, catching her neatly.

“I didn’t know if you’d do it,” she admits. “It _isn’t_ the Light way, is it?”

“If we brought him back, General Leia would have to have ordered him executed,” Finn says, shrugging. “And Poe would have seen his torturer again. This way, they don’t have to deal with that. And _you_ don’t have to deal with it, either.”

“ _Should_ we bring his head back as a gift for Poe?” Rey asks thoughtfully.

Finn considers it, then shakes his head. “No,” he says. “The mask, though, I think we should bring that. Then he can - I dunno - use it for target practice or something.”

“Good thinking,” Rey says, and turns to look at the waiting Stormtroopers, still in their tidy lines. “You can bear this news back to Snoke,” she says. “We’re going to kill all his Knights, and we’re going to capture all his ‘troopers, and then we’re going to come and kill _him_.”

“Lady - Lady Rey,” the head of the ‘trooper squad says, and Finn startles, because he _knows_ that voice. “We do not wish to return to Lord Snoke.” Nine of the ten Stormtroopers salute, formal and perfect. “We are assigned as the bodyguard of Lady Rey, and our orders have not been changed.”

Rey glances at Finn, astonishment and confusion threading along their bond. Finn steps forward beside her. “Lieutenant,” he says quietly. “Target. Fish. Effie. Teener. Easy. Oh-Zero. Sharp. Youngster. These are your bodyguards - my old squad. And -” he takes a deep breath, reaching out with the Force - “they’re telling the truth. They’re here to serve you.”

“Oh,” Rey says, still baffled. “You know we are the enemies of the First Order now, right?”

“Yes,” Lieutenant says calmly. “But you are still our Lady.”

“Oh,” Rey says again, and gives Finn a look of utter helpless confusion. Finn shrugs.

“We do still need to send word back to Lord Snoke,” he says, and looks at the tenth Stormtrooper, the only one not of Finn’s old squad, who quails a little before Finn’s gaze. “You will take the transport back to the _Finalizer_ ,” Finn orders. “Tell them that we spare them today so that they can bring our words to Snoke.”

“Tell Snoke we are coming for him,” Rey says. “The Stormtroopers may surrender, and we will let them live. The officers may surrender, and we will see them tried and sentenced for their crimes. But Snoke and his Knights we are coming to _kill_ , and we will not be stopped by any force in the galaxy.”

“...Yes, Lady Rey,” the Stormtrooper quavers.

Rey grins, all fierce joy and glory. “I am coming for him,” she says softly, almost to herself. “I have feared him for so long. Now let _him_ be afraid.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Warning: character death. (Again, not Rey or Finn or Poe.)

Rey programs Kylo Ren’s transport to bring the Stormtrooper and his message back to the _Finalizer_ , and then she and Finn and the squad of Stormtroopers wait while the transport lifts away. It reunites with the _Finalizer_ , and there is a long pause - Finn has the _tutaminis_ shield ready to go at the slightest sign it will be needed - and then the _Finalizer_ goes streaking away from D’Qar as fast as its engines will go. Finn sighs in relief. “Guess Hux actually believed us,” he says thoughtfully.

“That or he was under orders not to attack us himself,” Rey says, frowning. “Smarmy bastard wouldn’t breathe without orders.”

Finn chuckles, and turns to his old squad. “Let’s go find some clothing for you,” he says gently. “The Resistance probably isn’t going to let you keep your armor, so we might as well deal with that now.”

Lieutenant winces. “No armor?” he asks, sounding more discombobulated than Finn’s ever heard him. Finn reaches out with the Force, and feels the distress from all of the ‘troopers at the thought of shucking the armor.

“There’s some paint in the hangar,” Rey says thoughtfully. “If they painted their armor, then they wouldn’t look like the rest of the Stormtroopers.”

“That could work,” Finn agrees. “But you’ll have to leave the helmets off while you’re in the Resistance base. They’re sort of weird about faces.”

“...Yes, sir,” Lieutenant says, and Finn grimaces a little at being called ‘sir’ by his former commander and goes to find the paint buckets while Rey retrieves Kylo Ren’s mask and lightsaber.

*

Poe meets them on the tarmac at Hoth, and stands there blinking as Finn and Rey are followed out of the transport by nine helmetless Stormtroopers in painted armor.

“...Do I want to ask?” he says at last.

Rey giggles. Finn shrugs, and tosses Poe the helmet he’s been carrying. Poe catches it reflexively, then startles, staring down at Kylo Ren’s mask. “What -?”

“For target practice,” Finn suggests. “Or I suppose you could use it as a latrine, if you liked. Or whatever pleases you.”

Poe is still staring, eyes wide. “He’s dead,” he says, very quietly. “You _did_ it.”

“Finn took his head off, neat as you please,” Rey agrees, as Finn steps forward to lay a gentle hand on Poe’s arm. “He’ll never hurt anyone again.”

Poe takes a deep breath and shakes himself a little, looking up at them with wide, slightly wild eyes. “Right. Um. Thank you. Thank you both.” He glances down at the mask again and quirks a tiny smile. “Target practice sounds pretty good, actually. So. Um. About your new...companions?”

Rey shrugs. “They’re my old bodyguard,” she says. “They want to keep serving me.”

“And honestly, I have a few ideas about what to do with them,” Finn adds, with a crooked grin. “Let’s get inside, and I can tell you and the General what I’m thinking. But you’re probably going to think I’m completely insane.”

*

“You’re completely insane,” Poe says flatly. “That - that can’t _possibly_ work. You’ll die horribly.”

“Or we’ll win the war,” Rey says cheerfully. “And really, if Finn and I both think it’s worth it - and the ‘troopers are willing - what have you got to lose?”

“Both of you!” Poe says desperately. “Walking into the stronghold of your enemies is a _bad idea_!”

“It’s worked once already,” Finn points out.

Poe throws his hands in the air. “That was - look, I know the two of you can deal with a _Star Destroyer_ -” he pauses, blinks, and adds, “Right, I just said that, that is a thing I just said… I know you can deal with a Star Destroyer. But you’re talking about walking into the _headquarters_ of the First Order, in _chains_. That’s not a battle plan, it’s a _suicide_ plan!”

“Commander Dameron has a point,” the General says, frowning. “But I do not think either of you are suicidal, so there must be more to your plan.”

“There is,” Finn says. “I’ve been talking to Skywalker, you see, and he told me some _really_ useful things…”

*

Rey takes a deep breath and holds out her hands, and Finn secures the heavy shackles around her wrists as gently as he can. The bindings _look_ like Force-suppressors, and Rey closes her eyes for a moment and pulls her power in, winding it tightly, until it looks to Force-sensitive eyes as though she _is_ constrained. All around them, the ‘troopers of Rey’s bodyguard are carefully _not_ looking at the uncomfortable scene. Their armor has been scrubbed white again, and Finn has donned a suit of captured armor of his own. It’s odd how uncomfortable it is - he never used to think it was, but apparently spending several months wearing real clothing makes it _very_ hard to return to armor.

Finn’s own power is tucked behind his armor, shielded from prying eyes. As far as any of the Knights of Ren - or their Supreme Leader - will be able to tell, he is nothing but another Stormtrooper, utterly interchangeable, utterly unremarkable. That is one of the linchpins of this plan.

The other is the Force-bond between Rey and Finn, through which Finn has access, at need, to _both_ of their links to the Force and its thrumming power.

Rey opens her eyes and meets Finn’s, and nods, fear and rage and durasteel-hard determination running through their bond. Finn nods back, and picks up his helmet, settling it into place. The _click_ as the catches engage seems very loud.

“We’re ready,” Rey says quietly, and turns to face the shuttle’s doors. Finn wraps a gauntleted hand around her upper arm and draws his blaster with the other, just as the manual says is proper when escorting a prisoner. The rest of Rey’s bodyguard fall into place around them. Lieutenant looks the formation over, gestures satisfaction, and slaps the door activator.

The door slides open to reveal the landing bay of Supreme Leader Snoke’s Headquarters. There is an entire company of Stormtroopers awaiting them, with General Hux gloating at their head. Lieutenant leads Rey’s bodyguard down the ramp, Rey stumbling in their midst.

Finn figured out a few days after he learned how to heal that the same skills could be used to cause injury - that was an easy corollary. He’s never done it before, but on the way to Headquarters, as carefully and gently as he could, he layered bruises over Rey’s exposed skin, nasty-looking things that don’t actually go any deeper than the first layer of her epidermis. She _looks_ like a captured enemy, bruised and battered, but though she aches a little, she’s in fighting trim. Finn never wants to use his healing powers that way again, and using them on _Rey_ sickened him so badly that he had to spend half an hour retching in the refresher, but the verisimilitude is priceless. The way General Hux sneers when he sees Rey is exactly the effect they were aiming for.

“Your squad may have the honor of escorting Lady Kaisra to the Supreme Leader, Lieutenant DI-3196,” General Hux informs the head of Rey’s bodyguard. Lieutenant salutes crisply.

“Sir, yes sir!” he says, and General Hux turns on his heel and leads them into the labyrinthine halls of the Supreme Leader’s base.

The whole place reeks of the Dark Side, hatred and fear and rage and despair. Finn shivers inside his armor - he’s spent months surrounded by the _Light_ , and walking back into this poison is a miserable experience. But for Rey, for the chance to finish this dreadful war once and for all, Finn can do anything; and walking into the heart of the Dark Side is not so great a price to pay. With any luck, after all, this dreadful walk is going to end with Finn getting to shine the Light all through this horrid place, and leave it _gleaming_.

...Or possibly ashes. Ashes would work too. Fire is Light, after all, and Finn rather thinks that Headquarters would benefit from a nice cleansing fire.

*

Supreme Leader Snoke has his throne room at the very heart of the labyrinth, of course, a dimly lit and grimly miserable place, empty and echoing but for his throne upon the dais. General Hux leads the bodyguard - and the company of Stormtroopers, their boots echoing on the stone floor - almost to the foot of the dais, then stops and goes to one knee. All of the Stormtroopers except Finn salute - Finn can’t, as he’s holding a blaster and Rey’s arm. It’s the only acceptable excuse for not doing so.

“Ahhhhh,” Snoke breathes, satisfaction clear in his tone. “Kaisra. At last you have returned to me.”

“Kriff you,” Rey bites out, fierce and furious, and Finn plants his feet and tunes the rest of the conversation out as he gathers his concentration and his power - and not his alone, but Rey’s as well, flowing through his hand upon her arm, filling him and overfilling him with the living Force. It coils and coils, growing stronger, Rey’s sandstorm and Finn’s forest together, and Finn shapes it carefully, tells it exactly what he needs it to do, feeds it all his love for Rey and all her shining love for him, all their hopes and dreams, all their righteous fury and desire for the _end_ to this filthy, miserable war.

Snoke snarls something, and his hand flashes out; Rey convulses with pain, only Finn’s hand on her arm holding her upright, and that - that is the _outside_ of enough. Finn adds Rey’s pain to the whirling Force within him, his own rage at the fact that she has _ever_ endured such pain, and drops his blaster, raising his empty hand to call down the Light of the galaxy, all the Force that he and Rey can muster, fueled by love and righteous rage.

The Wall of Light hits the room like a thunderbolt the size of a forest, blazing so bright that every ‘trooper in the room flinches back to cover their eyes. The focus is, of course, Snoke on his tall throne, and Finn, standing firm as stone with Rey in his arms, sees the Supreme Leader convulse, mouth opening in a voiceless scream.

The Wall of Light purges the Dark Side from the location where it is cast, and severs Darksiders from their connection to the Force. That’s not necessarily fatal - though most Darksiders _would_ rather die than lose their Force-sensitivity - but Snoke has been keeping himself alive for long decades with nothing but the power of his own hatred and the Dark. The Wall of Light _unravels_ him, every bit of Darkside Force bleeding away to be wiped forever from the galaxy, and in its wake, as the Light begins to fade from the room, the only thing left on the dais is a heap of dust and ashes.

Unfortunately, General Hux and the company of Stormtroopers under his command are _not_ Darksiders, and the Wall of Light did no more than temporarily blind them. And General Hux _does_ react fairly quickly in a crisis. He has a comm to his mouth even before the Wall has faded completely, and is snapping orders for every ‘trooper and officer in Headquarters to converge on the throne room and attack the enemies found there.

Finn sighs. He’s tired - _desperately_ tired - from using the Wall, and Rey, who fed him so much of her power, is only a very little bit better off. But they planned for this, too, and Finn reaches out to Rey across their bond, feels her reaching back, and they both settle into that odd, crystal-clear state that Skywalker called battlemind. Finn bends to scoop up his blaster, and Rey summons her saberstaff from Easy’s hands; and around them, the rest of Rey’s bodyguard draw their own blasters and prepare to sell their lives for their lady.

Finn’s not having that. He still doesn’t quite understand why his old comrades chose to come to the Light, but he knows that he can’t let them die. He and Rey step forward, into the hail of blaster fire that comes from the company of loyal ‘troopers, and Finn raises his _tutaminis_ shield, strong as it’s ever been, around them - knows it’s drawing on his own blood and breath, and doesn’t care - and Rey charges, swift as thought, into the chaos of startled, half-blind Stormtroopers, aiming unerringly for Hux.

Hux tries to run, but Rey is faster, is fiercer, is _furious_ , and she doesn’t even bother to activate her saberstaff, just knocks him off his feet with a vicious swing - Finn hears the _crack_ of it even above the blaster fire, and knows that was a broken bone - and pins him to the floor with the end of her saberstaff against his throat. If she activates it, it will cut Hux’s head off, as easily as breathing.

Finn raises his voice, puts the last of his Force into making his words ring and echo through the room: “The Supreme Leader is dead! The General is captured! All Stormtroopers _stand down_!”

He doesn’t expect it to work, actually. He expects the blaster fire to redouble, expects his shield to fall at last. But to his lasting shock, his words are echoed - first by Lieutenant, behind him, and then by the squad leaders throughout the company, throughout the hordes of ‘troopers charging through the halls towards the throne room: “Stand down. Stand down. _Stand down._ ”

The blasters lower and are holstered again. The Stormtroopers come to attention, blank helmets turned towards Finn, fingers flickering astonishment and confusion and disbelief. Finn sighs and drops the _tutaminis_ shield, holsters his own blaster, and half-staggers towards Rey and her captive. To his continuing surprise, Teener and Easy come up beside him, tucking their shoulders under his arms to help him along. “Thanks,” he rasps, as they reach Rey.

“You’re welcome...Finn,” Teener murmurs, and Finn files that away as something to think about _later_ , and blinks at Rey and the snarling, red-faced General Hux.

“So,” Hux says, managing to sneer despite everything. “You’ve caught me. Now what?”

Rey takes a deep breath, glaring down. “I could kill you,” she says, panting a little. “I could kill you _slowly_. I could make you feel every bit of pain that you’ve ever inflicted on _anyone_ , and leave your broken body as a warning to my enemies.” She puts a little bit of Force into her words as she adds, “I could make you beg for mercy, and make you scream until you couldn’t even make a sound. I could break your mind and leave you alive, knowing nothing but endless pain and fear.”

Hux blanches. Finn takes a slow, deep breath, and wonders what he’ll do if Rey _does_ choose to do that. On the one hand, it’s Hux, who tried to blow up an entire star system and is, as all the Stormtroopers know, vile even for a First Order general. On the other hand - 

“But if I do that,” Rey says quietly, “I will be no better than Snoke was. I will be Darkside forever, twisted irrevocably into something foul.” She looks up at Finn, and there’s wry humor in the quirk of her lips. “I am not going to be like _him_ ,” she says, and flicks her free hand contemptuously. “No. I am going to bring you back to the Resistance, and I am going to let them take you to the New Republic and put you on trial for your crimes, and then you are going to spend the rest of your life in a small barred room all by yourself, to think about what you’ve done.” She grins down at her prisoner, sharp and vicious. “May you have a long life, Armitage Hux,” she says. “And know that every second of it is my mercy - and my revenge.” Her hand flicks again, and Finn feels the Force as she knocks Hux very precisely unconscious.

“Right,” she says wearily, stepping away from Hux’s limp form. “Ah - Sharp, Effie? Can you drag _that_ back to the shuttle?”

“Yes, Lady Rey,” Sharp says, saluting crisply, and she and Effie pick up General Hux and haul him away.

Rey slumps forward into Finn’s arms. “The girl,” she says faintly. “The girl beneath the throne room. We have to -”

“Yes,” Finn says, and beckons Fish and Target over to support Rey as Easy and Teener are supporting him, and they all stagger out of the throne room, past the lines of stone-still Stormtroopers, and down a corridor Rey points to, Lieutenant and Kriffer and Youngster guarding their backs, down a long flight of stairs and to a locked door. Finn frees a hand from leaning on Easy and shoots the lock out - it’s easier than using the Force, at this point - and Kriffer opens the door so they can stumble through.

The room is full of things Finn doesn’t want to look at too closely, implements of torture still bloodstained from recent use, and from the center of the room’s high ceiling dangles something like an enormous birdcage. Rey half-trips over to it, reaching up to steady herself on the bars, and then strains to reach in and take the arm of the woman crumpled at the bottom of the cage. After a long moment, her face falls, and she lets go, turning away.

“She’s dead,” Rey says quietly. “I think - I think the only thing keeping her alive was Snoke’s power.”

Finn reaches towards her, and Rey falls into his arms, burying her face against his armored chest. Fish and Target and Easy and Teener gather around to hold them both up. Rey’s shoulders are shaking as she cries, but after a long moment she straightens up, wiping her streaming eyes on her sleeve, and says, “She’s free now. She died by Light, and that means she’s free to - go wherever souls go. That’s...that’s probably the best we could have hoped for.” She offers Finn a watery smile.

“Come on,” Finn says gently. “There’s nothing for us here.”

Rey nods. “Let’s go,” she agrees. “Have any of you got any incendiaries?”

“I do, Lady Rey,” Kriffer says after a moment of surprise. “Why?”

Rey pauses in the doorway and gestures to the terrible room. “Burn it,” she orders. “Burn it _all_. Give her a proper funeral pyre.”

“Yes, Lady Rey,” Kriffer says, saluting, and as they start up the stairs, Finn hears the distinctive _whoomp_ of an incendiary detonator, followed by the crackling of a swiftly-growing fire.


	8. Chapter 8

By the time they reach the shuttle, Finn and Rey are both so unsteady on their feet that Teener and Target are nearly carrying them. Rey set the autopilot of the little shuttle for a course off of Headquarters before they left, and Lieutenant slaps the door closed as Fish taps the sequence Rey taught her. Teener and Target get Rey and Finn to the little bunkroom which has been set aside for them, and Finn has just enough strength left to stay on his feet while they strip his armor from him - sleeping in armor is _hideously_ uncomfortable - before he collapses onto the bunk beside Rey, rolls over to sling an arm across her, and follows her into exhausted slumber.

He wakes up to Poe and Skywalker looking down at him and Rey with nearly identical expressions of concern. He’s weaker and more exhausted than he’s _ever_ been, and also so hungry he thinks he could eat a bantha, raw. Poe is - miracle of miracles - holding a handful of unwrapped ration bars, and Finn and Rey reach up at the same time to pluck them from his hands. Finn turns to Rey to offer her a bar, and can’t help grinning when he sees that Rey has turned to offer hers to _him_. He takes it out of her hand and grins wider when she bites a chunk off the one he is offering, teeth very white.

Poe and Skywalker apparently have an inexhaustible supply of ration bars, and Finn and Rey eat almost mindlessly until at last the desperate hunger is sated. Finally Finn shakes his head at the next proffered ration bar. “How long were we out?” he asks.

“Five days,” Poe says. “You missed a fair bit.”

“Yeah?” Rey asks, reaching for the glass of water Skywalker has just brought in. Finn takes his own glass and drains it, then the next one that Skywalker floats in from outside.

“Well, we followed you in, just as we’d planned,” Poe says, leaning back against the wall. “Went in when you lifted off, broadcasting ‘Surrender now’ messages, and about - hm - half the ships surrendered? Caught the rest off-guard, though, so while we _did_ lose some people, it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been. The General’s managed to get the Kuati and a couple other groups to send us some actual _capital_ ships, and they’ve been off mopping up, but the loss of their Supreme Leader and the fact that the Headquarters apparently burned to the ground - I don’t suppose you know anything about that? - has taken a _lot_ of the fight out of the remaining Star Destroyers. We think some of them have chosen to flee into the Outer Rim, but Han says he’s got contacts out there who’ll let him know where those end up, so we should be able to hunt them down with only a little trouble.” He takes a deep breath. “That absolute banthakriffer Hux has been bundled off to be tried, and the General sends her compliments and thanks for bringing him along. Um. What am I missing? Oh - your bodyguards and my squadrons all got drunk together two nights back, and I think Jess and Easy might have gotten together.”

Finn chuckles, imagining the vivacious pilot and the rather-diffident Stormtrooper flirting. Rey giggles too, and then sobers. “It’s - it’s finally over, then,” she says quietly.

“Just about,” Poe agrees. “Oh, we’ll be cleaning out nests of sympathizers for a while, I suspect, but the General’s got the Senate and their resources behind her now - amazing how much support _winning_ a war gets you - and once the regular navy’s on the job we can stand down a bit.” He grins at them. “And _you_ two, I suspect, have earned yourself anything you like from a grateful New Republic, not to mention the personal debts that the General and I owe you. What _would_ you like, buddies? Your own world? Hordes of beautiful admirers? Vast wealth?”

Finn can’t help laughing. “What would we do with a world?” he asks. “Or hordes of beautiful admirers, for that matter?”

“And I don’t need _vast_ wealth,” Rey says. “I wouldn’t say no to a _little_ wealth, since as far as I know being a lapsed Knight of Ren doesn’t come with a paycheck, and I do like eating, but certainly nothing too ridiculous.”

Poe chuckles. “I’ll go tell the General that, then, while you two get cleaned up, and then she’d like to debrief you, at your convenience, and probably also ask you what _other_ rewards you’d like, since enough money to live on seems like frankly too little for the heroes of the hour.” He gives them both a lazy salute and wanders out, leaving Skywalker smiling a little oddly at them.

“I must congratulate you,” Skywalker says quietly. “You have done a great thing, my young friends.” He takes a deep breath. “My sister sent me to Takodana after Kuat, as you may or may not know, and while I was there, Maz Kanata, who runs the Cantina, happened to mention she had something of mine. It _was_ mine, years ago, but when I took it up again, I had the most compelling feeling that it was not mine any longer.” He draws a lightsaber hilt from his robes and holds it out to Finn. “I think that this is yours now,” he says, and Finn, eyes wide, takes it.

It feels _right_ , the way not even his purple ‘saber ever has. Rey leans against his shoulder, curiosity and excitement thrumming through their bond. Very carefully, Finn thumbs it on, and stares at the bright blue blade as it hums into existence.

“It suits you,” Rey says quietly. Finn nods mutely, still staring. It’s _his_ , perfectly attuned to him and to the Light.

“Thank you,” he says at last, and then, moved by a strange impulse, thumbs the blue ‘saber off and reaches out to summon the purple one to his hand, then holds it out to Skywalker. “Here. This one isn’t quite mine. Maybe it will work for you.”

Skywalker takes it carefully, turning the hilt over in his hands, frowning a little in thought. At last he thumbs it on, and smiles at the deep purple blade. “Yes,” he says quietly. “I think it will suit me very well. Thank you, Finn.” He thumbs it off and hangs it from his belt, and reaches out to clasp Finn’s wrist warmly. “What will you do with your new ‘saber, do you think?”

“I think…” Finn frowns, looking at Rey, who sends love and trust and deep contentment down their bond. “I think there are a lot of Force-sensitive kids out there,” Finn says at last. “And they need to be taught. I think Rey and I would be _good_ at it, because we know the Light _and_ the Dark, and we know what it is to be young, and scared, and alone. I think I’d like to teach kids to heal.”

Rey nods. “I like it,” she says. “I like it a _lot_.”

“So you wouldn’t be training kids to be Jedi,” Skywalker says thoughtfully. “Nor Knights of Ren, for that matter. Something else. Something new.”

“Something new,” Finn agrees. “The Light and the Dark together.”

“Balance,” Rey says quietly. “We will teach them balance.”

Skywalker nods. “I think,” he says, “that that is a very noble goal indeed.”

*

“Well,” the General says when Finn and Rey finish explaining everything, “you have done the impossible yet again, my young friends. Thank you.” She smiles. “I am sure the Senate will end up voting you some sort of pension or other, and probably a medal or three, but in the meantime, have you had any thoughts as to where you intend to settle?”

“Somewhere with enough land to build a school,” Finn says, shrugging. “But we really don’t know enough about the galaxy to pick a planet.”

“What about a moon?” Poe asks, grinning. “Specifically, Yavin 4. There’s _lots_ of land still, it’s a lovely place, and the people are friendly.”

Finn and Rey glance at each other. “That’s where you’re from, right?” Rey checks.

“Yep,” Poe says, nodding. “My Da still lives there, and I’ll be heading home once the war’s properly over. Be nice to have some new neighbors.”

Rey and Finn glance at each other again, both sending interrogative feelings down their bond. Finn shrugs - he doesn’t much care _where_ they end up - and Rey shrugs back. “Sure,” she says. “Yavin 4 sounds nice. It’ll - it’ll be nice to have a friend around.”

Poe beams. “I’ll comm Da, let him know you’re coming,” he says. “Will you be bringing your Stormtroopers along?”

“If they want to come,” Finn says. “And - I suppose we should help with the re-education of the surrendered Stormtroopers, too. And hunting down the last few Knights of Ren. And -”

“Dozens of things,” Rey agrees. “But when it’s all over, yeah, we’ll go to Yavin 4, and set up that school.” She smiles, deep contentment radiating down their bond. “It’ll be nice to have something to look forward to.”

“Yeah,” Finn agrees, knowing that he is radiating relief and joy. “It really is.”

*

It takes another three years before they finally set foot on Yavin 4, and when they do, Finn stops on the tarmac and stares around at the riotous jungle and laughs aloud. It’s his _mindscape_ , the endless green forest which has been his refuge for years.

“This _is_ where we’re supposed to be,” Rey says wonderingly. “Finn, we’re home.”

“Yeah,” Finn says, reveling in the warm humid air, in the endless shades of green, in the _comfort_ of the place. “We are.”

Poe and his father host them that night, and the best part of the evening is not the food - though that’s magnificent - nor the company - though that’s marvelous - but the enormous Force-tree in the backyard, which seems to shed blue-green light instead of shadows, and welcomes them both with such a wave of warmth and comfort that Rey actually staggers. Poe and his father leave them alone to commune with the tree, and Rey and Finn sit beneath it for some uncountable time, as the evening birdsong grows quiet around them and the stars begin to sparkle in the darkening sky. At last Rey says, quietly, “Years ago now, you offered to heal my scar, and I said no, because I needed to remember how I gained it.” She takes a deep breath, and smiles at him, radiant in starlight and the blue-green glow of the tree. “I taught you to be what you are,” she says softly. “Now I ask you, now that the war is over, now that I do not need to remember anymore - heal me, and teach me how not to be what I have been forced to become.”

Finn swallows hard and lays his hands - killer’s hands, healer’s hands - on the face of the woman he loves, and lets the Force flow through him, and under his hands and will the scar fades and fades until it is gone, as though it had never been; and as he does, Rey reaches out to him across their bond, to the Light which flows through him like water, and Rey’s eyes, golden so many years with Force and fury and the endless conflict of the Dark Side, darken to the warm brown he has only ever seen in their mindscapes. At last he lifts his hands away, and she rises to her feet, arms flung out, healed and Risen from the Dark, and the Force sings around them in joy and Light, and Rey whirls about in sudden ecstasy and laughs like a carefree child.

She looks, at last, wholly as she does in her mindscape, in her own image of herself, and Finn stands, beaming, as she twirls herself about in glee; and then she flings herself into his arms, and the kiss which follows is the sweetest moment Finn has ever known.

**Author's Note:**

> This will update M/T/Th/F for two weeks.
> 
> I am imaginarygolux on tumblr; drop on by!


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